Chacmool The Mayan God Found in Ancient Costa Rican Ruins

Excavations conducted by the National Museum of Costa Rica on the site Las Mercedes, in Guácimo Lemon, resulted in several findings, including a large sculpture of the type known as “Chacmool” and three tombs,one of which appears to be a child’s.

According to Ricardo Vazquez, the Museum archaeologist and who is in charge of research, the goal of this season of excavations is to “gather more information on the dates the architectural works were built.”

In addition to this type of work, it is hoped the study of the buildings of the architectural complex of the site. In total to date, they have investigated four structures, of which the above findings were obtained.

Myrna Rojas, director of the Department of Anthropology and History Museum said the excavation season this year began in mid-January, at which the piece of “chacmool” was found the last week of January and the first of February 2012. “The discovery of this piece shows that despite the conditions that had the impacted the land over the years, research demonstrated the great potential of the area.”

Rojas added that the strategy of excavations at the site The Mercedes has five stages. February 24th, archaeologists concluded the third stage at this archaeological site, located on the premises.

As reported by the National Museum, “Chacmool”, so named because it has a bowl in the abdominal area of the figure, feature sculptures evoking Post classic period of Mesoamerica primarily the Mayans.

“At this very site we have found other examples of fragmented statuary, never found in any other zones, despite this, several of the pieces are very interesting. The figure highlights the part of a magnificently carved shark.” said Vazquez.

In another of the foundations of the excavation of the National Museum, researchers located three graves, one of them fully exposed and the other partially. “The structure completely exposed was of an individual who died during his childhood, judging by the small size of the casket, while the other two tombs show adult sizes. The careful excavation work indicates that the tombs had been looted, but the caskets were not completely exposed.”said Vazquez.

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Posted by Joyce Gomez on Feb 28 2012. Filed under Feature, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry