Description

Dating to Period IV in Costa Rica’s chronological sequence, this elaborately decorated metate, or grinding stone, was used to prepare food or hallucinogenic substances. The elaboration of metates corresponds to the introduction of maize into the region, a crop that appears to have been linked to elite prerogative. Grinding stones are often adorned with images of predatory animals, zoomorphic beings, or creatures believed to possess the ability to traverse between the human and spirit world. This metate depicts the jaguar, the apex predator in Central American mythology. It was one of the most prestigious alter ego for a shaman, chief, or warrior to possess. Nocturnal, ferocious, and inhabiting both trees and land, jaguars were the embodiment of deities who could seamlessly transition between the mortal and divine. In this unusual example, a human face is found on the crown of the jaguar’s head, perhaps signifying the owner’s transformation into the animal during ritual events.