{
  "country_code": "CR",
  "id": "diquis-stone-spheres-purpose",
  "title": "Diquís stone spheres: skill, placement and an uncertain purpose",
  "category": "objet",
  "date": "2014-01-01",
  "date_label": "World Heritage inscription year; manufacture belongs to much earlier societies",
  "location": "Finca 6 and the Diquís Delta, Costa Rica",
  "lat": 8.911,
  "lng": -83.475,
  "summary": "Large stone spheres survive within pre-Columbian settlements. Their makers’ skill is clear; the exact shaping procedure and meaning of individual arrangements still require investigation.",
  "documented_claim": "The National Museum attributes the spheres to pre-Columbian societies and qualifies their exact method and purpose.",
  "unproven_claim": "An unusual shape establishes unknown builders or a universal astronomical code.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Museo Nacional de Costa Rica — Finca 6 brochure",
      "url": "https://www.museocostarica.go.cr/wp-content/uploads/material-educativo/finca-6/brochure-mncr-finca6-es.pdf",
      "language": "Spanish",
      "kind": "Primary museum interpretation",
      "note": "Qualifies proposed functions, initial chronology and specific shaping method.",
      "id": "S1",
      "accessed_on": "2026-09-30"
    },
    {
      "title": "UNESCO — Precolumbian Chiefdom Settlements with Stone Spheres of the Diquís",
      "url": "https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1453",
      "language": "English",
      "kind": "Institutional archaeological synthesis",
      "note": "Four-site scope; inscription in 2014. Do not merge its size range with a museum-wide inventory.",
      "id": "S2",
      "accessed_on": "2026-09-30"
    }
  ],
  "country": "Costa Rica",
  "author": "Eklipsis",
  "content_languages": [
    "en"
  ],
  "path": "/investigations/diquis-stone-spheres-purpose",
  "source_url": "https://www.museocostarica.go.cr/wp-content/uploads/material-educativo/finca-6/brochure-mncr-finca6-es.pdf",
  "location_precision": "region",
  "location_note": "Approximate orientation marker for the named locality, not an exact encounter, burial, ritual or excavation position.",
  "location_source_url": "https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=8.911&mlon=-83.475#map=8/8.911/-83.475",
  "reviewed_on": "2026-09-30",
  "edition": 1,
  "truth_type": "unknown",
  "verdict": "Pre-Columbian human manufacture and settlement associations are documented. Specific production details and meanings remain partly uncertain.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "title": "The mystery and the documented account",
      "text": "Costa Rica’s National Museum identifies the spheres as artifacts made by pre-Columbian societies of the southeast. Its Finca 6 brochure proposes markers of power, hierarchy and group identity, but says the exact shaping method and initial date remain uncertain; principal production is placed between 800 and 1500 CE. UNESCO’s four-site inscription emphasizes spheres preserved in settlement contexts. This supports investigation of placement and social meaning, rather than treating the stones as objects with no human cultural context.",
      "refs": [
        "S1",
        "S2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "The question worth investigating",
      "text": "What did an individual arrangement communicate, and how were the stones shaped and moved? A general status interpretation does not identify the function of every sphere.",
      "refs": []
    },
    {
      "title": "Evidence, provenance and uncertainty",
      "text": "Chronologies for settlements and principal production are not identical to an exact date for each object. Museum-wide size and number figures have a different scope from the four inscribed sites. Relocated stones cannot be used as if their present arrangement were ancient.",
      "refs": [
        "S1",
        "S2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Inspector’s assessment",
      "text": "Pre-Columbian human manufacture and settlement associations are documented. Specific production details and meanings remain partly uncertain.",
      "refs": []
    },
    {
      "title": "Next research and discriminating evidence",
      "text": "Use excavation plans and object-level records to distinguish original placements from moved specimens. Compare tool marks, quarry evidence and experimental results without claiming an unperformed replication. Test proposed social or astronomical arrangements against independent spatial data and known disturbance.",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "timeline": [
    {
      "date": "800–1500 CE, principal production",
      "text": "The museum brochure gives this broad range while leaving the initial date uncertain.",
      "refs": [
        "S1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "2014",
      "text": "The four chiefdom settlement sites are inscribed on the World Heritage List.",
      "refs": [
        "S2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "Modern museum interpretation",
      "text": "Finca 6 materials present proposed social functions and unresolved technical details.",
      "refs": [
        "S1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "30 September 2026",
      "text": "Eklipsis compiles this English documentary investigation from the named sources. No field visit or new eyewitness interview is claimed.",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "text": "The National Museum attributes the spheres to pre-Columbian societies and qualifies their exact method and purpose.",
      "status": "Documented in the named record",
      "refs": [
        "S1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "An unusual shape establishes unknown builders or a universal astronomical code.",
      "status": "Not established by the selected evidence",
      "refs": [
        "S1",
        "S2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "Pre-Columbian human manufacture and settlement associations are documented. Specific production details and meanings remain partly uncertain.",
      "status": "Editorial assessment; stated limits apply",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "hypotheses": [
    {
      "title": "Markers of status and collective identity",
      "status": "Museum’s proposed interpretation",
      "support": "The objects occur in organized settlement settings.",
      "limits": "A general social function may not explain each arrangement.",
      "test": "Compare size and placement with independently identified residential and ceremonial features."
    },
    {
      "title": "Specialized arrangements with additional ceremonial meanings",
      "status": "Open archaeological possibility",
      "support": "Original clusters and alignments permit spatial investigation.",
      "limits": "The selected records do not establish a complete symbolic or astronomical code.",
      "test": "Predefine a proposed arrangement’s predictions and test them against undisturbed excavated contexts."
    }
  ],
  "tasks": [
    {
      "title": "Trace the earliest accessible record",
      "body": "For Diquís stone spheres: skill, placement and an uncertain purpose, record author or storyteller, collection date, language, translation, page and exact scope. Distinguish evidence of a story being told from evidence of its events. Note which full documents remain unavailable."
    },
    {
      "title": "Investigate the central question",
      "body": "Use excavation plans and object-level records to distinguish original placements from moved specimens. Compare tool marks, quarry evidence and experimental results without claiming an unperformed replication. Test proposed social or astronomical arrangements against independent spatial data and known disturbance."
    },
    {
      "title": "Compare explanations without merging evidence",
      "body": "Compare size and placement with independently identified residential and ceremonial features. Predefine a proposed arrangement’s predictions and test them against undisturbed excavated contexts. Preserve contradictions and unsuccessful searches; proposed work remains unperformed."
    }
  ]
}