Crocodile Pendant, 1000-1550. Panama, Azuero Peninsula, Parita style, 11th-16th century. Cast gold, modern greenstone; overall: 6.5 x 5.5 x 4.4 cm (2 9/16 x 2 3/16 x 1 3/4 in.). Of great importance in ancient Panama were beings that combined crocodile features, especially the mouth, with lizard traits, such as the iguanas head crest. This example also has a back-swept nose, perhaps that of the leaf-nosed bat. The greenstone is a modern replacement for a stone or shell that once completed the crocodiles body.