Necklace with Pendant Figure
Not on view
This stone pendant, worn by Taíno leaders and healers, features a crouching anthropomorphic figure known as a zemí. Zemí (or cemí) is a term used by Taíno peoples the diverse societies that inhabited the Antilles archipelago before European contact. Zemí in the Taíno language refers not to an object or image but to an immaterial, spiritual, and vital force, linguistically relates to a quality akin to sweetness, pertaining to deities and ancestors. There are several known zemí identities recorded by the Spanish, some of which have been linked to archaeological images.
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