![]() The weight of the figurine is 23.7g equivalent to 23.7 x 5 = 118.5 carats. The dimensions of the figurine are height :- 5.63 cm, width :- 2.85 cm and thickness :- 1.37 cm. This is obviously to enable the figurine to be suspended on a cord, perhaps to be worn or hung somewhere as an ornament. Two conical drill holes with a larger diameter in the front than on the reverse side, pass through the figurine under the armpits, and another drill hole passes from side to side through the head. The man seems to be wearing a short apron and also headgear. The man’s hands are folded over his mid-section, somewhat similar to the standing posture of a modern-day Muslim devotee in prayer. The ancient lapidarists who created the masterpiece had used straight-cuts to fashion the figurine into the shape of a standing man. The emerald figurine of the man seems to have been carved on a single elongated natural emerald crystal, with the characteristic emerald-green color but with many small areas of blackish-green and yellow mottling. The Emerald Man A description of the Emerald Man The source of the ancient artifacts such as the emerald man which dates back to 500 BC to 250 AD, could also be one of the ancient mines in Colombia, such as the Chivor or Muzo mines. The emeralds that originated from these mines reached as far south as Bolivia, and as far north as Mexico by trade. This ancient source of emeralds were situated in the heartland of the Chibcha Indians at Somondoco (Chivor) and the Muzo Indians at Muzo. Today we know that the failure of the Spanish Conquistadors to discover the source of the emeralds in Peru and Mexico, was simply because there were no emerald mines in Peru and Mexico, and the emeralds used by the natives of these areas were actually brought in from elsewhere. Jose d’Costa reported that the ship by which he voyaged from Peru to Spain in 1587, carried two cases, each of which contained no less than a hundredweight of emeralds. When the Conquistadors tried their best to locate the source of the emeralds in Peru and Mexico and failed, they desecrated the temples and grave yards of the Indian tribes and collected the emerald treasures, which they dispatched to Spain. Emeralds were offered to their Gods and also buried with their dead. Besides being used as an ornamental stone, the emerald was also considered as a sacred stone by the ancient Indian tribes such as the Olmec, Inca, Aztec, Toltec, Maya, Chibcha, Muisca, etc.
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