Comments on: Ancient Costa Rica Part I: Lost history in the land of the crossroads http://boingboing.net/2010/01/11/ancient-costa-rica-p.html Brain candy for Happy Mutants Sun, 19 May 2013 02:30:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: John Riley http://boingboing.net/2010/01/11/ancient-costa-rica-p.html#comment-684298 John Riley Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-684298 Readers of this article may find some of my work interesting (I hope!) I did some work for the National Museum's website, making object-spin movies of artifacts in their collection, which allow you to rotate the artifacts and view them from all sides. You can find those at: http://4pi-vr.com/site/object_samples/index.html I also made a large number of panoramas for the museum's website. You can see these on my site at: http://4pi-vr.com/site/museo/index.html I have collaborated on some research work and photography at Guayabo as well. I was able to have access to portions of the site that tourists can not get to. If you would like to see some of those, look at: http://4pi-vr.com/site/guayabo/index.html I was not really happy with the results of most of the panoramas from Guayabo. Unfortunately, the weather was not so great, usually on the verge of raining, with ugly grey skies. My permissions were only for a specific set of dates, so I got what I could 8-) I hope you enjoy, John Riley Assoc. Prof. of Physics USC Upstate Spartanburg, SC and also proprietor of 4Pi-VR Media Solutions http://4pi-vr.com johnriley at chesnet.net jriley at uscupstate.edu (replace "at" with @) Readers of this article may find some of my work interesting (I hope!) I did some work for the National Museum’s website, making object-spin movies of artifacts in their collection, which allow you to rotate the artifacts and view them from all sides. You can find those at:

http://4pi-vr.com/site/object_samples/index.html

I also made a large number of panoramas for the museum’s website. You can see these on my site at:

http://4pi-vr.com/site/museo/index.html

I have collaborated on some research work and photography at Guayabo as well. I was able to have access to portions of the site that tourists can not get to. If you would like to see some of those, look at:

http://4pi-vr.com/site/guayabo/index.html

I was not really happy with the results of most of the panoramas from Guayabo. Unfortunately, the weather was not so great, usually on the verge of raining, with ugly grey skies. My permissions were only for a specific set of dates, so I got what I could 8-)

I hope you enjoy,

John Riley
Assoc. Prof. of Physics
USC Upstate
Spartanburg, SC

and also proprietor of
4Pi-VR Media Solutions
http://4pi-vr.com

johnriley at chesnet.net
jriley at uscupstate.edu
(replace “at” with @)

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2010/01/11/ancient-costa-rica-p.html#comment-684046 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-684046 Try seeing the stone balls on Canos Island at Drake's Bay, Costa Rica. About a 20 minute walk from the beach. There are many of them lying around in the woods, and it's an interesting problem as to how someone transported them to the island. Try seeing the stone balls on Canos Island at Drake’s Bay, Costa Rica. About a 20 minute walk from the beach. There are many of them lying around in the woods, and it’s an interesting problem as to how someone transported them to the island.

]]> By: jeligula http://boingboing.net/2010/01/11/ancient-costa-rica-p.html#comment-683800 jeligula Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-683800 I was wondering when you would get to the archaeological aspect of your recent trip, Maggie. I sincerely hope Dr. Snarksis has some insight into the stone spheres. They have boggled my mind ever since I first heard about them several years ago. I have always wanted to go see for myself and hit a few hot springs while I'm there. I was wondering when you would get to the archaeological aspect of your recent trip, Maggie. I sincerely hope Dr. Snarksis has some insight into the stone spheres. They have boggled my mind ever since I first heard about them several years ago. I have always wanted to go see for myself and hit a few hot springs while I’m there.

]]> By: Maggie Koerth-Baker http://boingboing.net/2010/01/11/ancient-costa-rica-p.html#comment-684066 Maggie Koerth-Baker Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-684066 Those are fascinating, aren't they? They're amazing pieces of work, the result of countless hours of craftsmanship and the Chibchan understanding of geometry. And it's hard to know a whole lot about them because almost all of them are completely lacking context--either rolled away from original sites or looted as lawn ornaments. I didn't get a chance cover much on them while I was in Costa Rica. But my college professor, John Hoopes, who has also worked in Costa Rica, has a great big old Web site dedicated to them: http://web.ku.edu/~hoopes/balls/ Those are fascinating, aren’t they? They’re amazing pieces of work, the result of countless hours of craftsmanship and the Chibchan understanding of geometry. And it’s hard to know a whole lot about them because almost all of them are completely lacking context–either rolled away from original sites or looted as lawn ornaments. I didn’t get a chance cover much on them while I was in Costa Rica. But my college professor, John Hoopes, who has also worked in Costa Rica, has a great big old Web site dedicated to them: http://web.ku.edu/~hoopes/balls/

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2010/01/11/ancient-costa-rica-p.html#comment-691246 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-691246 There's a great book titled Atlantis in America (Erikson & Zapp) that puts forth a very interesting theory about the stone spheres of Costa Rica. The authors have matched the stones' patterns on the ground to star constellations and believe that they were used to teach navigation to mariners who arrived from the South Pacific and didn't know how to get home. I know it sounds far-fetched but there are several hundred pages of evidence to consider. They also have info on their website at http://www.atlantisinamerica.com. If your interested in ancient maritime cultures in the Caribbean, visit http://www.TheMegaBlog.com to read about some amazing research near Bimini that's about to rewrite the history of the "new" world. There’s a great book titled Atlantis in America (Erikson & Zapp) that puts forth a very interesting theory about the stone spheres of Costa Rica. The authors have matched the stones’ patterns on the ground to star constellations and believe that they were used to teach navigation to mariners who arrived from the South Pacific and didn’t know how to get home. I know it sounds far-fetched but there are several hundred pages of evidence to consider. They also have info on their website at http://www.atlantisinamerica.com.

If your interested in ancient maritime cultures in the Caribbean, visit http://www.TheMegaBlog.com to read about some amazing research near Bimini that’s about to rewrite the history of the “new” world.

]]> By: kyfho23 http://boingboing.net/2010/01/11/ancient-costa-rica-p.html#comment-683841 kyfho23 Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-683841 Thanks. I never knew this (one of my greatest compliments to give). Off topic: Try the coffee while you're there. Costa Rica grows some great brew, and they make it closer to American style. Thanks. I never knew this (one of my greatest compliments to give).
Off topic: Try the coffee while you’re there. Costa Rica grows some great brew, and they make it closer to American style.

]]> By: Maggie Koerth-Baker http://boingboing.net/2010/01/11/ancient-costa-rica-p.html#comment-686146 Maggie Koerth-Baker Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-686146 Jeligula, Dr. Snarskis emailed me and said that he'd like to send you the PDF of an article he wrote about the Stone Balls. His email link is in the story. If you send him a message and let him know you're the guy who was interested in the Balls from Boing Boing, he'll get you that extra information. Jeligula, Dr. Snarskis emailed me and said that he’d like to send you the PDF of an article he wrote about the Stone Balls. His email link is in the story. If you send him a message and let him know you’re the guy who was interested in the Balls from Boing Boing, he’ll get you that extra information.

]]> By: Larry Lo http://boingboing.net/2010/01/11/ancient-costa-rica-p.html#comment-684878 Larry Lo Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-684878 Very excellent post. Can't wait to read the next part. I used to live in Costa Rica and went to elementary and secondary school there. I remember history classes would skim over Costa Rica's pre-Columbian cultures so quickly that if you snoozed you'd miss it. In fact I credit them with my obsession with the Maya because I think we spent more time on Mesoamerican (even getting homework in Maya math) and Andean cultures than with native Costa Rican ones. Very excellent post. Can’t wait to read the next part. I used to live in Costa Rica and went to elementary and secondary school there. I remember history classes would skim over Costa Rica’s pre-Columbian cultures so quickly that if you snoozed you’d miss it. In fact I credit them with my obsession with the Maya because I think we spent more time on Mesoamerican (even getting homework in Maya math) and Andean cultures than with native Costa Rican ones.

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2010/01/11/ancient-costa-rica-p.html#comment-693925 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-693925 On the Indonesian island of Bali are many amazing stone works, by far the scariest one is a gigantic stone goblet laying on it's side where the alien mothership dropped it % ) really, though, so big it had to've been moved there but there is no stone material like it in the vicinity. So why carve a massive stone goblet, then move it far from the quarry, what kind of gods banquet was it going to be? On the Indonesian island of Bali are many amazing stone works, by far the scariest one is a gigantic stone goblet laying on it’s side where the alien mothership dropped it % ) really, though, so big it had to’ve been moved there but there is no stone material like it in the vicinity. So why carve a massive stone goblet, then move it far from the quarry, what kind of gods banquet was it going to be?

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2010/01/11/ancient-costa-rica-p.html#comment-1005489 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-1005489 Hoy 25 Enero me acabo de enterar que el Sr. Michael J. Snarskis apareció muerto en su casa de habitacón. Es una perdida para nuestro país al perder tan grande Arqueólogo y Amigo. Paz a sus restos. At. Ulises Reyes Hoy 25 Enero me acabo de enterar que el Sr. Michael J. Snarskis apareció muerto en su casa de habitacón. Es una perdida para nuestro país al perder tan grande Arqueólogo y Amigo. Paz a sus restos. At. Ulises Reyes

]]> By: revansatoda http://boingboing.net/2010/01/11/ancient-costa-rica-p.html#comment-688829 revansatoda Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-688829 Stone sphere video. Here's a link to a 20 minute video about Chibchan stone spheres. English and Spanish versions. About 16 minutes each in two 8 minute parts. Or download to your PC. There are lots more amateur archaeological photos, articles and videos by clicking on the double, left pointing triangles on the top right. http://www.atoda.com/pg_video.php Stone sphere video. Here’s a link to a 20 minute video about Chibchan stone spheres. English and Spanish versions. About 16 minutes each in two 8 minute parts. Or download to your PC. There are lots more amateur archaeological photos, articles and videos by clicking on the double, left pointing triangles on the top right.

http://www.atoda.com/pg_video.php

]]> By: dculberson http://boingboing.net/2010/01/11/ancient-costa-rica-p.html#comment-683993 dculberson Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-683993 Awesome, thank you for the cool post. I went to a lot of museums in Peru, and it's like you said: there are a few that have context and really informative displays. Then others are a bunch of glass cases stuffed full of pottery. Awesome, thank you for the cool post. I went to a lot of museums in Peru, and it’s like you said: there are a few that have context and really informative displays. Then others are a bunch of glass cases stuffed full of pottery.

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2010/01/11/ancient-costa-rica-p.html#comment-685046 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-685046 I agree with you, but im still living here. What you said about the teaching in schools is completely true. Hope more people can read this very interesting article. I agree with you, but im still living here.

What you said about the teaching in schools is completely true.

Hope more people can read this very interesting article.

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