Photographer: Andrea Blumtritt | Rights management: Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 4.0 International
The mythical, bimorphic figure combines the attributes of various creatures (iguanas, alligators, crocodiles, cats of prey, lizards) and different perspectives (feet). It appears to adopt a tense, aggressive posture. Its skin pattern is reminiscent of the fur structure of a big cat and the cartilage of a lizard. The reptile's two-limbed tail can be understood as a duplication, transformation or movement (Helms 1993). Due to the low position of the eyelet, the figure's feet do not reach the support surface. The different number of their toes cites a peculiarity common to alligators and crocodiles. Ferrero (1975: 359, Ilus. III-132) depicts a similar object, also from the El General site. A two-tailed reptile associated with a predatory cat appears on a partially reliefed stone from the Costa Rican site of Guayabo de Turrialba (1300-700d.C.). Lizard-shaped depictions are the most common theme of polychrome pottery from the Pacific region of southern Central America. They occur mainly in the Buenos Aires Policromo (1550-1000d.C.), Altiplano Policromo (1350-800d.C.), Potosí Aplicado (1350-500d.C.), Macaracas Policromo (1100-900d.C.), Conte Policromo (900-700d.C.), Galo Policromo (800-500d.C.) and Carrillo Policromo (800-500d.C.) groups. (Künne 2005)
