This plain gold crown (llauto) with plume was excavated in 1854 in Chordeleg in the Cuenca region of southern Ecuador. The main ethnic group in the area were the Cañari who ruled a powerful confederation that was conquered by invading Inca armies in the mid-fifteenth century. Stylistic details suggest that the crown belongs to a Pre-Inca Northern Andean gold working tradition which encompassed the coast and northern highlands of Peru and the southern highlands of Ecuador.