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Chacmools in Costa Rica: long-distance interaction between lower Central America and Mesoamerica, c. AD 1000

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 December 2020

Robert M. Rosenswig  and
Ricardo Vázquez Leiva
Robert M. Rosenswig*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University at Albany, USA
Ricardo Vázquez Leiva
Affiliation:
Departamento de Antropología e Historia, Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, Costa Rica
*
*Author for correspondence: ✉ rrosenswig@albany.edu
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Abstract

Chacmools are a distinctive sculptural form associated with the Mesoamerican cities of Chichen Itza and Tula. A recently excavated sculpture found at Las Mercedes in Costa Rica, over 2000km to the south, closely resembles the Mesoamerican chacmools. Comparing this new chacmool-like sculpture with similar examples at the American Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of Costa Rica, the authors demonstrate that these sculptures were common in lower Central America, and propose a connection between Central America and Mesoamerica dating back to AD 1000. They interpret the Costa Rican chacmools as ritual furniture employed by local chiefs to enhance their power and prestige through the enactment of Mesoamerican-inspired rituals.

Keywords

MesoamericaCosta Ricapre-Hispanicchacmoolsculptureinter-regional interaction
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 95 , Issue 379 , February 2021 , pp. 160 - 179
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd

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