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Stone Spheres,
Diquis Delta, Costa Rica
A typical Sphere setting in the Diquis Valley.  The beauty of the Spheres as captured by Gerald Forster.  Large Sphere measuring 8 feet high.  Sphere collection at the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica in San Jose.  University of Pennsylvania student's Park of Spheres proposal. |
SACRED SITE The Landmarks Foundation has been very active in the Diquis Valley of Costa Rica, home of strange and wonderful pre-Columbian Stones Spheres. These Spheres were carved over a thousand years ago and remained in place until the middle of the 20th Century when the area was cleared for banana plantations. As early as 1948, the Spheres were deteriorating due to exposure to temperature changes, water damage (from rain and irrigation) and from fire used by the United Fruit Company to clear the land. Others were blasted to bits due to the local belief that they contained gold. Many of the Spheres that were not damaged were moved to adorn parks and gardens elsewhere. The Landmarks Foundation is concerned that the remaining Spheres stay in place and is lobbying for the repatriation of those that were removed. Clearly, the placement of the Spheres was of great significance. Although many theories exist, not one is agreed upon. The granite from which the Spheres were carved was quarried many miles away. The labor and organization needed to transport it testify to a highly advanced society. A sense of sacredness and ritual permeates places where the Spheres were originally placed. It is even possible that they are an earthly map of the night sky millennia past. GOAL In 2001, with the cooperation of many governmental organizations the Landmarks Foundation and Museo Nacional de Costa Rica managed to truck over 80 tons of the Spheres from the capital (San Jose) over the high mountain range and return them to their original location where they are currently being stored and protected until a Cultural Center is built that can properly display them where they originally were. ACTION In 2002, at the The University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Dana Tomlin's graduate students created a computerized plan to manage and promote the Stone Spheres as a source of sustainable income in the economically depressed Diquis Valley Region. A group of select students traveled to Costa Rica and presented the government with the plan to preserve and promote this cultural resource. The Costa Rican government continues working on the plan to create an archaeological preserve and park in the area. It has been following through with the design to build a museum and reception center for visitors, and as a place to display the Spheres that the Landmarks Foundation repatriates. Related Links Ed Baynard. "Restoring the Revered: Sam Green's Mission to Protect Sacred Sites" Modern Painters, February 2005. Anthony Smith and Gerald Forster (Photography). "Spheres of Influence" Madison Magazine, Nov/Dec 1999: pp. 52-59. |