The paper proposes a series of hypothesis about metaphor as an aesthetic principle that underlies the symbolic functioning of a specific kind of objects during the Middle Period of the Argentine Northwest (400-900 B.C.). It is considered that metaphors exist not only in the iconic configuration but in the way that the objects are perceived in certain contexts. In this sense, the metaphor is constructed throughout the ritual while the object is being experienced. Metaphoric processes that involve the relation between man and feline are analyzed in very few objects that have not been deeply studied yet: stone vases and a wood ax handle. These objects might have been used in rituals in which men became sacred depending on the politic and religious authority.
Pre-Hispanic Art; Metaphor; Ritual objects; Pre-Hispanic aesthetics
