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Cult Traits in Southeastern Costa Rica and Their Significance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Doris Stone
Doris Stone*
Affiliation:
Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
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Abstract

The finding of ceremonial bone and shell objects at Puntarenas Farm, Jalaca, southeastern Costa Rica, along with ceramics of known Chiriqui or Red and Black ware, has thrown new light upon the extent of pre-Columbian trade and the penetration of cult traits from northern South America into lower Central America. Although no radiocarbon date has been obtained as yet, it is known that the manufacture of Chiriqui or Red and Black ware was continued into post-Columbian times.

The presence in this region of shells found only on the Caribbean coast of Central America and not on the Pacific, as well as artifacts of manatee (Trichechus m. manatus Linn.) bone, also associated solely with the Caribbean littoral, indicate the extent and importance of trade. In the same sense, the appearance of the alligator-serpent motif on both coasts of the Nicoya Peninsula and on the western coast with ware related to Ulua Polychrome types and with an Ulua style alabaster vase, places a new northern boundary with respect to the diffusion of this cult motif. The Ulua Polychrome types and the Ulua style alabaster vase put a time horizon covering from A.D. 1000 probably to the Spanish arrival. The alligator-serpent concept, so familiar in the Amazon and Andean regions, the “eagle” or “condor” concept, the feline, the monkey, and the frog all emphasize the common base of lower Central American religion. Likewise they point to San Agustin as a cultural center of great importance in lower Central America.

From the artistic point of view, the bone objects represent some of the most intricate carving yet known in eastern Central America. Both the style and subject matter place these figures in a different category from bone artifacts associated with Mesoamerican cultures.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , January 1963 , pp. 339 - 359
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1963

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