EFFIGY VESSEL WITH FACIAL DECORATIONJADE PENDANT SHOWING A BOUNDED CHARACTERSCULPTURE OF A PRISIONER WITH HANDS TIED TO THE BACKKNIFE OR DAGGER ELABORATED IN STONEADORNED-BRAIDED HEAD WEARING A FACE TATTOO
This topic is based on sacrifice, war and the characters linked to aspects of power and strength, as warriors, village headmen in war and the victims of these. Emphasis is on aspects of religious or social prestige through jade, pottery and sculptures, showing heads and beheaded bodies, trophy heads and birds carrying heads as war trophies or to the afterlife, bound slaves in the plane of winners and loser.
Nocturnal natural splendor
THREE-BASED VESSEL WITH INVERTED OWL HEADS STANDING OUTPOTTERY SERPENT PRESENTING BLACK AND RED LINES OVER THE BODYOWL HEAD-SHAPED CEREMONIAL MACE
Animals of nocturnal habits as owls, bats, jaguars and insects were represented in the archaeological pieces as part of a spiritual and mysterious world linked to the night and the underworld.
Bat iconography
The pendants or winged plates represent a bat figure; in pre-Columbian iconography it was considered a deity associated to the underworld and creator of earth, by means of its excrement. It was linked to the night, the afterlife, where darkness and death prevail.
POTTERY VESSEL WITH HUMAN WITH BAT CHARACTERISTICS STANDING OUTBAT-SHAPED JADE PENDANTMACE SHOWING A BAT FACE
Funerary ritual
Religious leaders held funeral rituals according to their social beliefs about life and death; this guaranteed passage of the dead to the afterlife. The corpse was disposed of and treated ritually, according to the type of death (in war, in labor, by disease or accident), which determined where and how to deposit it (tomb, grave, chamber); once the above was agreed upon, personal objects and food were placed in the deathbed as offerings.
POTTERY VESSEL SHOWING A HUMAN BEING-BATPOTTERY INCENSE BURNER EMPLOYED TO BURN INCENSE OR RESINS DURING RELIGIOUS CEREMONIESJADE PENDANT SHOWING A BIRD CARRYING A PERSON IN ITS BEAK
Ceremonial Paraphernalia
BIRD-SHAPED MACE, CARRYING A TROPHY HEAD IN ITS BEAKRECTANGULAR METATE WITH HANGING PANEL
This topic highlights metates, tables and seats elaborated on the different archaeological regions of Costa Rica; outstanding are the metates of hanging panel with figures of birds and characters carved below, others have low-reliefs of characters and birds, and in the case of the tables, animals holding the upper part are often observed. These objects were used in the funerary ceremonies and rituals performed by the characters such as spiritual leaders.
CIRCULAR TABLE SUPPORTED BY MONKEY'S ARMSSTONE METATE WITH HANGING PANEL CARRYING A CENTRAL FIGURE IN HUMANIZED-BIRD SHAPECHARACTER CARRYING A POT SEATED ON A FELINE-SHAPED METATE
The pendants or winged plates represent a bat figure; in pre-Columbian iconography it was considered a deity associated to the underworld and creator of earth, by means of its excrement. It was linked to the night, the afterlife, where darkness and death prevail.
Religious leaders held funeral rituals according to their social beliefs about life and death; this guaranteed passage of the dead to the afterlife. The corpse was disposed of and treated ritually, according to the type of death (in war, in labor, by disease or accident), which determined where and how to deposit it (tomb, grave, chamber); once the above was agreed upon, personal objects and food were placed in the deathbed as offerings.
