The pendant, which may have originally been part of a necklace, earring, or pin,[3] takes the form of two insects, which are identical (mirror images) joined head-to-head with the tips of their abdomens almost touching in a symmetrical or heraldic arrangement.

[2][3] The Malia Pendant is on display at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, on the island of Crete in Greece.

The insects also resemble the way in which the Egyptians, with whom the Minoans share many artistic conventions, portray bees,[5] with an elongated thorax and abdomen much like wasps.

[6] Honey also had a presence in Minoan perceptions of the afterlife, with some objects from tombs resembling or including honeycomb imagery.

The Malia Pendant, assuming the insects are bees, would then depict an abbreviated version of the production cycle of honey.

With insects, the continuation of the cycle of life and death is performed through regeneration, a concept important to the Minoan belief system.