Decorated metates in prehispanic Lower Central America

Le résumé fourni par la source

Metates are stone objects on which corn and other substancesa re ground with \nhand-held stones called manos. Metates and manos have formed part of the \nstandard household equipment in the Americas ever since settled life began to \ndevelop there in the 2nd millennium B. C. \nIn Lower Central America - and specifically within the area bounded by eastern \nHonduras in the north and the Panama Canal in the south - prehispanic peoples \nfashioned some of their metates in a highly individual manner, often with a display \nof sophisticated and complex imagery both in form and decoration. They were \nmade in this distinctive way over a period of at least 1500 years prior to the arrival \nof the Spaniards. \nThe aim of this study is to show that, in spite of their diversity, these metates \nrepresent an unmistakable cultural trait which is particular only to the isthmian \nregion of Central America. It is proposed that, as such, the decorated metate can \nserve as a diagnostic marker for essentially Lower Central American cultural \ntraditions in prehispanic times. \nIn earlier studies, many of these elaborately carved objects from Honduras, \nNicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama have been referred to variously as 'altars', \n'thrones', 'ceremonial tables', and - sometimes - as 'metates'. In the course of \nresearch for the present study it was found that the majority show traces of wear \nfrom grinding and that they can therefore be classified as metates. \nThis thesis brings together material from the entire Lower Central American \nculture area and presents a comprehensive corpus of decorated metates from \nreported sites together with specimens available in museums and private \ncollections. Based on some 650 examples, a classification is proposed which hasbeen organized according to formal attributes and supplemented by a stylistic \nanalysis of recurring motifs and decorative patterns. \nA chronological and geographical framework has been added with the help of \nknown data on decorated metates recovered from controlled excavations.

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