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Published Monday, August 17, 2020
Investigation begins for newly
discovered pre-Hispanic
era stone path
Specialists from the National Museum report that in May they attended a discussion about the alteration of archaeological evidence in the same place where a pre- Hispanic era stone path was found last week in Heredia Province.
Responding to the complaint, museum archaeologists inspected the site, where the expansion of the highway between Barreal District and Route One, knows as General Cañas highway, is being built.
The inspection verified the presence of a pre-Hispanic structure in the place and also that it was partially altered. For that reason, the specialist proceeded with the guideline established in the "Law on National Archaeological Heritage", requesting the Ministry of Public Works, the private company Ruta Uno Trust ( in charge of the enlargement of the Route One highway) to protect the site until a thorough archaeological evaluation is made.
"Now it is up to the Ruta Uno Trust company to hire an independent professional in archeology, recognized by the National Archaeological Commission, to carry out the evaluation and provide a report on the archaeological remains and recommendations," said Myrna Rojas, archaeologist and the museum’s chief of the Department of Anthropology and History.
According to Rojas, the museum will also carry out the supervision of the investigations. "It is still too early in the investigation to know details such as the length (of the road) or if there are other related elements."
Works on the highway expansion will continue, however, the area where the road was found will be isolated from the rest of the construction area.
Last week road workers at the Route One highway, discovered a stone path that could have been built by the ancient inhabitants of the Pre-Hispanic era.
During the initial land removal work, the stone path was detected, classified as an "archaeological find" and isolated.
"The area of the discovery, which consists of a pre-Hispanic road built with stones that remain isolated while work is carried out in other areas of the project to avoid delays in the schedule," Ruta Uno Trust said in their statement.
According to Alejandro Araya-Oviedo, Environmental Supervisor, the archaeological studies required in the area were coordinated with specialists from the National Museum of Costa Rica. The goal is to know the extension of the road and its characteristics to present a proposal for the conservation of the archaeological structures discovered.
The pre-Hispanic era, commonly referred to the pre-Columbian era, incorporates all period subdivisions in the history of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continent, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during the Early Modern period.
According to the historian Ana Maria Botey Sobrado, in her book "Costa Rica: from autochthonous societies to 1914", she details how before the arrival of the Spaniards to America, the original inhabitants of Costa Rica numbered some 400,000 people scattered throughout the country, most of them located in the North Pacific and the Central Valley. "Of all the existing ethnic groups, the Huetares were the most powerful and best organized indigenous nation in Costa Rica when the Spanish arrived," Botey said.
Christopher Columbus arrived in the territory of present-day Costa Rica on September 25, 1502. It was his fourth trip from Europe to the Americas.
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