Chinchilla asks UNESCO to recognize Costa Rica’s stone spheres

For a decade, Costa Rica has tried to place the stone spheres of Diquís on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Mónica Quesada

Costa Rica's stone spheres could be added to UNESCO's list by next February.

President Laura Chinchilla met with the head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) last Friday to ask the group to include Costa Rica's stone spheres of Diquís, located in the south Pacific, on its World Heritage List.

During her European tour, Chinchilla met with UNESCO Director-General Irina Bakova in Paris. The World Heritage List includes 936 items, both natural and cultural, that are deemed to have “outstanding universal value.” Costa Rica has been trying to put the huge stone spheres on the list for a decade.

During the meeting, Chinchilla was accompanied by Jorge Jiménez, an archeologist and sphere expert. Chinchilla asked Bakova for advice on having the spheres approved for the list.

Costa Rica must present a proposal in September on why the artifacts deserve to be recognized as a world heritage site. If approved by next February, the stones would be added to the list.

While in Paris, Chinchilla and Jiménez visited the Quai Branly Museum, where a pre-Columbian stone sphere was on display – a gift from Costa Costa Rica’s National Museum.

Read more about the stone spheres of Costa Rica here

Stone Spheres of Costa Rica

Stone Balls or spheres have been discovered throughout the world. Those found in Costa Rica are the subject of many books and papers, with some authors identifying themselves as the discoverers.

However, they were actually found in 1940 during agricultural activities by the United Fruit Company. They were clearing land on the Diquis Delta to be used for banana plantations. An archaeological investigation was underway shortly afterward along with the first scholarly publication about them appearing in 1943.

Hundreds of these balls have been documented all over the country of Costa Rica. Although some have been destroyed, dynamited by treasure hunters or cracked and broken by agricultural activities. Only six are believed to be in their original locations. They range from a few centimeters to over two meters in diameter. Almost all of them are made of granodiorite, a hard, volcanic stone, possibly taken from a Talamanca mountain range about 50 miles from their location. Unlike the stone balls in Jalisco, Mexico, they are not natural in origins but monolithic sculptures made by human hands.

No one knows exactly how old they are. Costa Rica has no recorded history before 1502 when Columbus made his fourth transatlantic voyage. Archaeologists used pottery and other artifacts found near the balls to make their best educated guess. They believe the balls could have been made anywhere between A.D. 200 and 1500. Old but not as old as the pyramids or Stonehenge.

How or why they were created remains a mystery.

Thank you to the paranormal stories blog for this excellent article

http://paranormalstories.blogspot.com/2009/11/stone-balls-of-costa-rica.html