Abstract

CAMACHO MORA, Fernando. Design and Symbolic-Mythological Interpretation of a Flying Panel Metate. An. Inst. Investig. Estét [online]. 2025, vol.47, n.127, pp.85-116.  Epub Feb 13, 2026. ISSN 0185-1276.  https://doi.org/10.22201/iie.18703062e.2025.127.2918.

The analysis of flying-panel metates poses a challenge due to the scarcity of specimens, the lack of contextual information regarding their discovery, and the resulting ambiguity in the academic discourse. This article focuses on the study of one of these objects from Turrialba, Costa Rica. Employing an interdisciplinary approach that combines archaeological evidence, ethnographic considerations, and a design analysis, it is proposed that this metate presents a metanarrative that recounts a Talamanca story of the eagle that eats people, turning the metate into a comprehensive representation of this narrative. A design analysis of the object is proposed, considering its structure and morpho-proportionality. Despite the complexity of inferring pre-Columbian use through ethnographic information, various lines of analysis from group genetics to previous archaeological references support the proposal developed here.

Keywords : Pre-Columbian design; archaeology; stone sculpture; symbolism; oral history; Chibcha.

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