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Zenú Gold Figure (Replica)

  • Country: Colombia
  • Source: Museo Del Oro, Bogota 2016
  • Size (cm): 8
  • Material: 24K Gold plate over silver

The Zenú or Sinú is an Amerindian tribe in Colombia, whose ancestral territory comprises the valleys of the Sinu and San Jorge rivers as well as the coast of the Caribbean around the Gulf of Morrosquillo. These lands lie within the departments of Córdoba and Sucre.

The Zenú culture existed from about 200 BCE to about 1600 CE, constructing major water works and producing gold ornaments. The gold that was often buried with their dead lured the Spanish conquerors, who looted much of the gold. With the arrival of the Spaniards, the tribe all but died out. The 16th-century Spanish chroniclers wrote about the Zenú who were still living there, but recorded little or nothing about the history of the Zenú.

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