Costa Rica

Published April 30, 2010

Costa Rica is home to one of the great megalithic mysteries of Mesoamerica, namely its enigmatic stone spheres measuring up to 10 feet in diameter and 30 tons in weight. The spheres were discovered in the Disquis Delta region of the country but unfortunately few, perhaps six remain in their original positions. They number in excess of 300 and it is claimed that they are perfectly spherical to within a couple of millimetres.

>>The spheres were rediscovered in the 1930s by the United Fruit Company while clearing the jungle to make way for banana plantations. Wikipedia informs us that “The first scientific investigation of the spheres was undertaken shortly after their discovery by Doris Stone, a daughter of a United Fruit executive. These were published in 1943 in American Antiquity, attracting the attention of Samuel Kirkland Lothrop of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. In 1948, he and his wife attempted to excavate an unrelated archaeological site in the northern region of Costa Rica. In San José he met Doris Stone, who directed the group toward the Diquís Delta region in the southwest.”

Some years later Nothrop’s wife, Eleanor, wrote an account of their research in Costa Rica⁽^h⁾ including the discovery that “Some of the pottery under one of the stone platforms turned out to be of classical Chiriqui type, best known in western Panama. We already knew from other evidence that this pottery was still being made at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Thus, by the same token, the stone ball found above it must also have been made at approximately the same period. The majority of the stone balls were probably considerably older, but it is safe to say that, although their date of origin is open to speculation, the cult of making stone balls was a late one, continuing into the sixteenth century.”<<

Ivar Zapp and George Erikson have linked ^[⁰²⁴⁴^] these spheres with ancient navigational systems in a worldwide culture that included Atlantis. At best their suggested connection with Atlantis is somewhat tenuous. Zapp gave a talk in 2005 in which he identified a location in southwest Costa Rica as the site of Plato’s Atlantis^(b).

A more objective review by professor John W. Hoopes of the University of Kansas, of the Costa Rican stone sphere ‘mystery’ can be found on the World-Mysteries website⁽^a⁾.

In 1974, a paper entitled Atlantis – The Seat of Man^(g)also written by Hoopes was published in support of an Atlantic location for Atlantis. The author quotes a number of mesoamerican traditions in support of this idea.

A 2022 report describes recent excavations Disquis Delta region aimed at conserving badly weathered spheres there, “the team focused on the Finca 6 archaeological site located in the canton of Osa in the Puntarenas Province, in which stone spheres have deteriorated due to alterations derived from the constitution of the rock, damage caused by humidity, and floods resulting from hurricanes and tropical storms.”^(c⁾

>>Some year ago Marisol & José Antonio Roldán offered an overview of the background to the Costa Rica stones which included some additional peripheral details^(f).<<

In 2024, Ancient Aliens S20E recycled some of their earlier output relating to the srone spheres of Costa Rica. Jason Colavito, once again, offers a debunking of the many ridiculous claims that have been made about the stones, starting with the untrue claims of having ‘perfect’ sphericity. The show also included segments regarding the so-called stone spheres in Bosnia and the Neolithic round stones found in Scotland^(e⁾.

To end on a lighter note, I find that some years ago Doug Yurchey suggested that the Costa Rican spheres might have been some sort of power receivers^(d⁾! This particular piece of nonsense was later removed.

⁽^a⁾KU researcher investigates mysterious stone spheres in Costa Rica – KU News (archive.org)

^(b) See: https://atlantipedia.ie/samples/archive-2537/

^(c⁾ Archaeologists excavate giant stone spheres in Costa Rica – HeritageDaily – Archaeology News

^(d⁾ https://www.world-mysteries.com/sar_crb_doug.htm (link broken)

^(e⁾ Review of Ancient Aliens S20E10 “Mystery of the Stone Spheres” – JASON COLAVITO

^(f⁾ ESFERAS DE COSTA RICA (oocities.org) *

^(g⁾ (94) Atlantis – The Seat of Man (1974) | John W Hoopes – Academia.edu *

^(h⁾ Prehistoric Stone Balls–a Mystery | Natural History Magazine *