The object at that time was not out on the shelves but was in storage. Perhaps it is a lizard but it also looks like (to me at least) a sauropod dinosaur.

Here is the information that the Museum provides about the artifact:

ZOOMORPHIC VESSEL 5618
Current Location: Collections Storage
Provenience: Bolivia Cachilaya
Culture Area: Andean Section: American
Materials: Stone
Height: 4.45 cm
Length: 10.79 cm
Credit Line: William Pepper Peruvian Expedition; Max Uhle, subscription of Phebe A. Hearst, 1897
Description: In shape of a lizard

https://www.penn.museum/collections/object_images.php…

So, here is an object described as a lizard, found in South America, in Bolivia assigned by the museum to the Andean culture; 3,000 BC to 1537 A.D. according to the Oxford Reference dictionary which in other contexts might be seen as a dinosaur depiction (for instance if it were a toy).

It appears to be a sort of sauropod or pro-sauropod if not a lizard. Problem; the neck is very short for either of those types of dinosaurs as far as we know—but fairly long for a typical lizard.

Question for investigation; has science discovered a short-necked sauropod dinosaur either in Bolivia or somewhere in South America?

Would it be possible to sort of cross-reference our lizard/dinosaur with some type of short-necked sauropod from the past?

Eureka!? The two "dinosaurs" on the left in our lead photo are of the artifact in question while the two on the right are artist's conceptions of Brachytrachelopan.

“Brachytrachelopan is known from partial neck and dorsal vertebrae (part of the backbone), ribs, a partial pelvis and limb bones. This dinosaur had, proportionately, THE SHORTEST NECK OF ANY KNOWN SAUROPOD.” Natural History Museum

“Brachytrachelopan is a short-necked sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian to Tithonian) of ARGENTINA. The holotype and only known specimen (Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio MPEF-PV 1716) was collected from an erosional exposure of fluvial sandstone within the Cañadón Calcáreo Formation on a hill approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) north-northeast of Cerro Cóndor, Chubut Province, in west-central Argentina, South America.

Though very incomplete, the skeletal elements recovered were found in articulation and include eight cervical, twelve dorsal, and three sacral vertebrae, as well as proximal portions of the posterior cervical ribs and all the dorsal ribs, the distal end of the left femur, the proximal end of the left tibia, and the right ilium.

Much of the specimen was probably lost to erosion many years before its discovery. The type species is Brachytrachelopan mesai.

The specific name honours Daniel Mesa, a local shepherd who discovered the specimen while searching for lost sheep. The genus name translates as "short-necked Pan", Pan being the god of the shepherds.” Wikipedia

The actual dinosaur fossil was discovered in Argentina, in South America. The distance from Argentina to Bolivia is approximately 1,500 miles.

What are the chances that our object looks like a short-necked sauropod and that the sauropod with the shortest neck was found in that location?

[Shrug]

Presented for your approval.

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