This unique and most spectacular type of Costa Rican stone metate is called the "flying-panel" metate, so named for its unique scenic panel beneath the bowl of the metate. Ceremonial metates were the most important objects of their time. These ritual items were used in the burial ceremonies of important high-ranking individuals in society. The metate in every day life had the transformative power to change a seed or a kernel into flour. Because of this power, it became a symbol of transformation in the human life cycle. Apparently, a primary function of these metates in the burial ritual was as a burial platform. The juxtaposition of a human head with the grinding plate equated the head with the completion of the agricultural cycle, since the human head was represented as the seed of the human life cycle. The radical expansion in the imagery of the metate in the form of relatively realistic zoomorphic sculpture further elaborates on this theme, although the imagery itself is still poorly understood. In this striking piece the central figure in the flying panel is a monkey perched atop the back of a feline. The monkey's outstretched arms hold a metate leg in one hand and the upswept tail of the feline in the other. The stylized faces of both the monkey and the feline emphasize ferocity by way of their wide snarling expressions, exposing N-shaped incisors and teeth. Vulture-like birds grasping human heads hang from the outside of the tripod legs. Clearly, this masterpiece of ancient sculptural artistry is unequaled. One legacy of these ceremonial metates was the later development of the first freestanding sculpture in the region. The legacy of this work of art continues into the present, for to behold it is to revere it, just as it was revered so many centuries ago.