4112 by Meso & Central American Sound Library Project

Unprovenienced Marbella Zoned type aerophone (Marbella subtype) featuring two bird specimens arranged head-to-tail, one on each side of the instrument. Its spheroidal resonator is drilled with four finger holes of virtually identical diameter. This globular flute with accession #4112 was manufactured in the Guanacaste Province, Nicoya Peninsula (Costa Rica), during the Tempisque Period (500 BC-AD 300). Archaeological region & sub-region: Greater Nicoya, Guanacaste-Nicoya.

The winged animal adorning the front of the instrument may represent a common pauraque (nyctidromus albicollis) or 'cueyo', a nightjar species widespread on the Nicoya Peninsula. This nocturnal bird has inspired many legends due to its unpredictable low-to-the-ground flight and haunting song. Indeed, this flight behavior and its highly extensible mandible enable it to swallow many insects gathered at path crossings. For this reason, it has a reputation for leading passers-by astray. Like the Mesoamerican tecolote, it has been symbolically associated with death by the Indigenous peoples of Costa Rica. It should be pointed out that similar ocarinas have been unearthed in funerary contexts (see, e.g., Guerrero Miranda 1986: 143; 2011; Desrayaud 2001: 41; Sánchez 2015: 81, 86). Given its connection to paths and disorientation, the cuyeo may have been regarded as a guide to the otherworld, as a psychopomp animal. Such globular flutes might hypothetically have been played during ceremonies prior to the inhumation of the deceased and then deposited as part of the funerary goods.

The specimen adorning the rear side of the instrument may feature a gallinaceous bird of the Odontophoridae family, commonly called the 'New World quail'. If so, the airduct could represent the typical forehead tuft of some species, such as the crested quail (Colinus cristatus).

4112 is morphologically similar to AAM 48.15.1; both instruments belong to the same cultural tradition. They both produce the same type of musical scale when sounded with a stable medium blowing pressure level, with intervals close to minor third, major second, major second, and minor second.

The Royal Museums of Art and History (KMKG-MRAH) bought this aerophone from Brussels 'antique dealer' Edgar Beer in the mid-1960s. It is currently stored in the MIM's storerooms (Brussels).

Overall dimensions (height x diameter): 9.28 x 6.44 (cm).

The MCASL Project aims to share, visually and sonically, a sample of the large pre-Columbian era sound-producing artifacts collection from Mesoamerica and Central America housed at the Royal Museums of Art and History (KMKG-MRAH), Brussels. The development of this audio/data library is part of Jean-François Brohée's doctoral research, funded by a FRESH grant of the F.R.S.-FNRS.