Conspicuous Consumption in Ancient Costa Rica and Panama

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Palumbo
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Central America ◽  
Conspicuous Consumption ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Political Consolidation ◽  
Southern Central ◽  
Mortuary Art

This chapter considers the mechanisms by which sumptuary art was deposited in mortuary contexts across southern Central America. Rather than indicating elite dominance, it is argued that the production and procurement of mortuary art promoted a factionalized political landscape. The burial of staggering quantities of goods may be interpreted as deflationary attempts to limit the capital available to rivals. Such practices may have promoted a zeitgeist of conspicuous consumption that frustrated attempts at further political consolidation in the Isthmus.

scholarly journals First record of Clay-colored Sparrow (Spizella pallida Swainson, 1832) (Aves: Emberizidae) in Costa Rica

Check List ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1592
Author(s):  
Steven Aguilar ◽  
Julio E. Sánchez ◽  
Daniel Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Central America ◽  
First Record ◽  
Adult Bird ◽  
Southern Central ◽  
Wintering Range

We present the first record of the Clay-colored Sparrow (Spizella pallida) in Costa Rica. An adult bird was recorded ca. 900 Km south of its common wintering range. This represents the first record of the species for the country and for southern Central America.

scholarly journals A Trionychidae (Reptilia: Testudines, Cryptodira) from the Pliocene of Costa Rica, Southern Central America

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
César Laurito ◽  
Ana Lucía Valerio Z. ◽  
Luis Diego Gómez P. ◽  
Jim I. Mead ◽  
Eduardo Antonio Pérez G. ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Central America ◽  
Southern Central

scholarly journals Ritual consumption of psychoactive fungi and plants in ancestral Costa Rica

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
José M. Rodríguez Arce ◽  
Marco A. Arce cerdas
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Central America ◽  
Costa Rican ◽  
Psychoactive Drug ◽  
Morning Glory ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
Psychoactive Substances ◽  
The Past ◽  
Southern Central ◽  
Ancient Times

Not much is known from an ethnohistorical perspective about the use of psychoactive substances in southern Central America; it is mainly through the archeological record that their presence in the past has been inferred. This article reviews evidence for the use of mind-altering plants and mushrooms in the societies that inhabited the current Costa Rican territory during pre-Columbian times, and explores the cultural significance of this activity. Historical, ethnographic, archeological, and paleobotanical information was examined and integrated with the data obtained from the analysis of 46 artifacts with a presumed linkage to psychoactive drug use that were selected from an exhaustive search in the collections of the Museums of the Central Bank of Costa Rica and the National Museum of Costa Rica. Preliminary results suggest the consumption of tobacco (Nicotianaspp. L.), morning glory (Ipomoeaspp. L.),cohoba[Anadenanthera peregrina(L.) Speg.], psychedelic fungi [Amanita muscaria(L.) Lam. andPsilocybe(Fr.) P. Kumm. species], as well as various alcoholic and invigorating beverages was present in ancient times. This use was likely connected to shamanistic healing practices, social–ceremonial events, and the ritual activities of people who held positions of religious and political importance within society.

The Tronadora Complex: Early Formative Ceramics in Northwestern Costa Rica

1994 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Hoopes
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Central America ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Central American ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Southern Central ◽  
Tephra Stratigraphy ◽  
Middle Formative ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Early Formative

The correlation of archaeological features with tephra stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates in the volcanic cordillera of northwestern Costa Rica has provided evidence for an Early to Middle Formative ceramic complex dating to at least 2000 B.C. Tronadora ceramics have been found in association with evidence for early horticulture and sedentism. Stylistic comparisons with other early pottery from Central America have helped with the refinement of our chronology for the earliest sedentary societies in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Differences between Tronadora pottery and the earliest complexes of Mesoamerica and southern Central America indicate a high degree of regionalization in ceramic styles during the Early Formative period. Similarities also indicate, however, the common participation of northwestern Costa Rica and southern Mesoamerica in broad interaction networks at this time. Tronadora pottery does not represent an incipient technology or the result of a diffusion of ceramic production from Mesoamerica or northwestern South America. Instead, it implies the existence of an earlier and still-undefined period of technological experimentation in the Central American isthmus.

Central America's tourism development gap set to grow

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Central America ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Economic Downturn ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The North ◽  
Southern Central ◽  
Development Gap

Subject Southern Central America's preparations to invest more in tourism. Significance The countries of Central America are experiencing mixed fortunes in attracting international tourism, with Costa Rica and Panama benefiting from well-established and dynamic tourist sectors, while the less developed countries to the north of the isthmus -- El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua -- trail behind. The countries look set to continue diverging over the medium term, as Costa Rica and Panama diversify their tourist sectors and develop new tourism infrastructure. Impacts With the region's tourism industries heavily reliant on North America, any US economic downturn would be very damaging. Costa Rica's efforts to open up its eastern coast could provide a major new regional hub for resort tourism. A stronger dollar could encourage US tourism in countries, such as Guatemala and Nicaragua, whose currencies are not pegged to the dollar.

Rediscovery of Choroterpes atramentum in Costa Rica, type species of Tikuna new genus (Ephemeroptera: Leptophlebiidae: Atalophlebiinae), and its role in the "Great American Inter-change"

Zootaxa ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 932 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
HARRY M. SAVAGE ◽  
R. WILLS FLOWERS ◽  
WENDY PORRAS V.
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Central America ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Type Species ◽  
New Genus ◽  
South American ◽  
Early Tertiary ◽  
Geological Formation

A new genus, Tikuna, is described based on recent collections of adults and nymphs of Choroterpes atramentum Traver from western Costa Rica. All recent collections are from streams on or near the Nicoya Complex, the oldest geological formation in Lower Central America. Tikuna belongs to a lineage of South American Atalophlebiinae (Leptophlebiidae: Ephemeroptera) whose origin is hypothesized to have been in the late Cretaceous–early Tertiary. Some implications of the distribution of Tikuna for theories on the origin of Costa Rica’s biota are discussed.

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