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  • During the last two centuries the authenticity of Francisco Pizarro’s Banner of Arms preserved by the National Museum of Colombia has been under discussion. The Banner collected in 1825 by General Sucre, has been catalogued as an unique object part of the history in the reunion of two societies, the Old and the New World. By first time a multi-analytical research is done to the Banner. Chromatographic, spectroscopic and microscopic techniques are combined with radiocarbon dating to characterize the different material components of the object and clarified it age and provenance. The analytic results with the historical documentation, allow to postulate that the Banner comes from an European manufacture, around the 16th century, arriving to America’s lands possibly by Pizarro’s expedition. Nevertheless, the Banner does not represent to Pizarro. In contrast, by the Banner manufacture, elements (weaved degummed silk, natural dyes (brazil wood, cochineal, indigotin and luteolin base) and silver gilded threads) and the coat of arms present on it, it is possible to postulate that the Banner represents the Royal Banner of the America’s Conquest under the Crown of the King of Spain Charles V to symbolize his Realm in the New World.

Last update from database: 11/12/26, 4:10 AM (UTC)