[Aztlan] Nicaraguan columns & statues, Costa Rican jades

[Clifford T. Brown]

While Nicaraguan archaeology overall is indeed a neglected subject, the
statues are not. They have been studied extensively since they were
discovered. Ephraim Squier discovered, excavated, and illustrated a number
of them in his writings about Nicaragua in the 1840s. He also sent several
back to the Smithsonian. Squier was probably the most noted American
archaeologist of his generation, and his publications were widely read, as
much for their literary as their scientific value. So, although they are not
widely read today, they are not in fact obscure references. A couple of the
Smithsonian acquisitions are on display at the Miami Museum of Science right
now.

Carl Bovallius, a Swedish scientist (1886. Nicaraguan antiquities.
Stockholm) published a beautiful volume illustrating most or all of the
known statues.

Lothrop published an article about them in the American Anthropologist
(LOTHROP, S. K. 1921. The stone statues of Nicaragua. Amer. Anthrop., n. s.,
vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 311-319.) and he discusses them in his monumental two
volume work on the pottery of Nicaragua and Costa Rica published by the
Museum of the American Indian.

There is also an article by Francis B. Richardson that discusses them
extensively in the well known edited collection "The Maya and their
Neighbors" (edited by Hay et al., 1940).

It seems to me that I recall a more recent study pointing out the
differences between the statuary of Chontales and the statues from the
islands in the great lakes (Zapatero and Momotombito). You might check the
bibliography of "The Archaeology of Pacific Nicaragua" by Lange et al.

This is not an exhaustive bibliography by any means.

Cliff




Clifford T. Brown, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department of Anthropology

Florida Atlantic University

777 Glades Road

Boca Raton, Florida 33431

(561) 297-3232

ctbrown at fau.edu

http://www.fau.edu/~ctbrown


-----Original Message-----
From: aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org [mailto:aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org]
On Behalf Of Max Dashu
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2007 7:19 PM
To: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
Subject: Re: [Aztlan] Nicaraguan columns & statues, Costa Rican jades

I would appreciate anyone pointing me to written or visual sources on 
these megalithic statues. I have seen only a brief mention of them, 
and have found a single solitary 19th century engraving of one. It 
seems a much-overlooked area of study.

Max

>  When I was last in Granada,Nicaragua I saw many very large
>statues in the Museum there. Very weathered looking.

-- 
Max Dashu
Suppressed Histories Archives
http://www.suppressedhistories.net
Real Women, Global Vision
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