page_title: Stone spheres of Costa Rica
section_title: Site description
hierarchical_section_title: Stone spheres of Costa Rica / Site description
caption_attribution_description: Diquis Stone spheres
context_page_description: The stone spheres of Costa Rica are an assortment of over 300 petrospheres in Costa Rica, on the Diquís Delta and on Isla del Caño. Locally, they are also known as bolas de piedra. The spheres are commonly attributed to the extinct Diquís culture, and they are sometimes referred to as the Diquís Spheres. They are the best-known stone sculptures of the Isthmo-Colombian area.
  They are thought to have been placed in lines along the approach to the houses of chiefs, but their exact significance remains uncertain.
  The Palmar Sur Archaeological Excavations are a series of excavations of a site located in the southern portion of the country, known as the Diquís Delta, and have centered on a site known as "Finca 6". The archaeological findings date back to the Aguas Buenas Period and Chiriquí Period.
  In June 2014, the Precolumbian Chiefdom Settlements with Stone Spheres of the Diquís was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. In July 2014, a project, which had been proposed in 2011, to declare the spheres a national symbol of the country was approved.
context_section_description: The archaeological site of Farm 6 has been dated to the Aguas Buenas Period (300–800 CE) and Chiriquí Period (800–1550 CE). It was a multifunctional site accommodating a settlement and a cemetery, and remains of monumental architecture and sculpture are also present on the site. The monumental architecture consists of two mounds which were constructed with retaining walls made of rounded river cobbles and filled with earth.  The site contains multiple locations where large stone spheres are found in situ. Additionally, since many of the stone spheres in the region were removed from their original locations and serve as landscape decoration, the site has become a storage location for spheres that have been returned to the National Museum. One of the neighboring towns to Farm 6 also had spheres or "esferas". They were called "zanahoriagas", for their more oval-like shape.
caption: In situ stone sphere at Finca 6 Archaeological site
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