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Stratigraphic Excavations in the Eastern Lowlands of Costa Rica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michael J. Snarskis
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Abstract

Although the eastern lowlands of Costa Rica have seen little scientific archaeology, recent stratigraphic test excavations have outlined a ceramic sequence of almost 1,500 years in the region. The earliest ceramic complex in this sequence, El Bosque, has been radiocarbon dated to the first few centuries after Christ. Stylistically, the El Bosque complex resembles material from contemporary periods in adjacent regions (Zoned Bichrome, Aguas Buenas), but also shares many ceramic modes with the Colombian site of Momil. A carbonized maize cob from an El Bosque midden is eight-rowed Pollo, an ancient race of South American maize. Evidence is presented supporting the hypothesis that aboriginal cultural traditions in eastern Costa Rica were basically part of a northern South American tropical forest pattern.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 41 , Issue 3 , July 1976 , pp. 342 - 353
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1976

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