Effigy Metate (Grinding Stone)

In 1502, the Spanish observed monolithic carved "boards" being used as funeral biers, their animal imagery identified as clan symbols. Other early accounts mention the use of similar but smaller "tables" to grind tobacco and other hallucinogenic materials used during shamanic religious rituals. Spanish missionaries destroyed many of these stone artworks because of their association with "pagan" rites. Equally unfortunate is the lack of descriptions by the early chroniclers of indigenous religious beliefs and myths as well as the dramatic population decline due to European diseases to which the native peoples had no natural immunity. As a result, little has survived to illuminate the religious and social beliefs of the societies of ancient Costa Rica. The paucity of data severely ...