Pre-Columbian burial ground unearthed in Costa Rica

France24 ^ | 21 July 2010 | AFP

[csvset]

An 800-year-old, pre-Columbian burial ground with baskets full of human remains was unearthed at a building site outside San Jose, National Museum archaeologists said Tuesday.

"It's a funeral complex made from river stones and slabs," Maritza Gutierrez, who heads the digs at the Tres Rios district 10 kilometers (six miles) from the capital, told reporters.

The burial ground, dating from about the year 1200, yielded 26 sets of human bones from children to adults, contained in baskets made of plant fiber, an unusual material for native groups predating the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus.

Archaeologists also found 98 artifacts made of stone and ceramics, Gutierrez said.

It was too early to determine exactly to which indigenous group the remains belong, she said, adding that before the 1500s about eight different ethnic groups lived in what is now Costa Rica.

Gutierrez said the burial site was first discovered two months ago by workers digging foundations for a new house, but was kept from the public while archaeologists completed their excavations. It lies in an empty lot surrounded by residential homes.

National Museum director Patricia Fumero said the archeological find was "very important," when added to two other pre-Columbian burial grounds found last year in Costa Rica's jungles and mountains, from 1,200 and 1,700 years ago.

[csvset]

Costa Rican archaeologist Maritza Gutierrez works on tombs made with stones at an indigenous cemetery found in the town of Tres Rios, outskirts of San Jose. An 800-year-old, pre-Columbian burial ground with baskets full of human remains was unearthed at a building site outside San Jose, National Museum archaeologists said Tuesday.

[ClearCase_guy]

I’m blaming narco traffickers for this one.

[El Sordo]

Groovy

[Eagles6]

"contained in baskets made of plant fiber, an unusual material for native groups predating the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus."

What else does one make baskets from?

[Sacajaweau]

First time I’ve heard of bodies in baskets...except I recall that old saying....”basket case”...Have I found the source of that phrase??

[ccmay]

contained in baskets made of plant fiber, an unusual material for native groups predating the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus.

Is this really true? Or did the fiber baskets all rot over the centuries?

[Eagles6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basket_Case

Yeah, I know it's wikipedia.

Just curious what they made baskets out of before Columbus?

[Sacajaweau]

I saw wiki....But I'm suggesting it may really have originated way back.

Baskets made of?? reeds, palms...can't really think of anything else suitable except maybe animal hides....I remember seeing pouches made from hides so I'm thinking baskets more like shopping bags

[Eagles6]

I think by definition baskets are made of some type of plant fiber which is why the original statement in the article is confusing.

[muawiyah]

Looks like a Zen garden ~ just more Japanese.

Something to think about ~ you have Japanese taking off on small boats and ending up in Peru, etc. over thousands of years.

How did they know where to go?

[muawiyah]

The issue isn't what the baskets were made of, but the use of baskets at all.

Amerindians fairly commonly built racks, laid the dead out, and let the buzzards remove the skin and muscle.

Frequently they'd place the bones (after suitible weathering) in ossuaries ~ large pits filled with bones.

The Mohican Indians had an ossuary near/on Shodak Island NY that dated back 7,000 years ~ maybe more. One day someone used it to build bed for the New York Central railroad. (NOTE: all of the bones have since been removed and returned to the ossuary).

Foreign immigrants to the area, if they came from the Old World, might well use different burial methods, and this could be such a site.

[katana]

contained in baskets made of plant fiber, an unusual material for native groups predating the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus

I have to assume they mean it's a little unusual for the materials to have survived intact, but even that's not especially accurate (although it might be in a rain forest environment like Costa Rica). Either that or they're nuts/stupid.

[blam]

Basket Case

[SunkenCiv]

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