Disk Ornament 600–1533 Manteño Huancavilca Technical note: Optical microscopy and XRF conducted in 2017. This metal disk, possibly a pectoral, belongs to the corpus of artifacts often referred to as tincullpas described by Verneau and Rivet (1912, 299–306) and Jijón y Caamaño (1920). This disk shows a mammalian face in high relief at its center and flat undecorated edges around the outside. While these faces tend to be identified as feline (see Ugalde 2009), Rodríguez (1992, 82–83) has drawn attention to certain features as indicators of a kinkajou (Potos flavus). In this case, the face i

Disk Ornament 600–1533 Manteño Huancavilca Technical note: Optical microscopy and XRF conducted in 2017. This metal disk, possibly a pectoral, belongs to the corpus of artifacts often referred to as tincullpas described by Verneau and Rivet (1912, 299–306) and Jijón y Caamaño (1920). This disk shows a mammalian face in high relief at its center and flat undecorated edges around the outside. While these faces tend to be identified as feline (see Ugalde 2009), Rodríguez (1992, 82–83) has drawn attention to certain features as indicators of a kinkajou (Potos flavus). In this case, the face includes two semi-circular eyes, a nose whose bridge begins above the eyes, and a rectangular mouth with four teeth. The two central teeth have perforations, which may have secured a long movable tongue attached with staples (cf. Jijón y Caamaño 1920, pl. 6, no. 5). There are two more holes, perhaps for suspension near the top of the disk. The disk was made from hammered sheet, worked by repoussé and then gilded on the obverse. The sheet is work-hardened by repeated cycles of hammering and annealing. To create the present disk, metalsmiths hammered sheet to the current thickness of the disk. To form the central design of the mammal’s head, the smith may have rested the disk on a rigid form and worked the sheet from the reverse side to sink the central hemispherical shape. The details of the face were created with repoussé accomplished with a metal or bone punch. After completing the repoussé design, the smith undertook perforating the disk. They perforated the two top holes from the obverse (see image 2), while they perforated the two holes in the mammal’s teeth from the reverse (see image 3).The gilding was applied only to the obverse side of this disk probably by a method known as fusion or wash gilding. The edges and the reverse surface were left ungilded. This technique, characteristic of gold work found in Ecuador and Southern Colombia in the Nariño regi

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