What are the stone spheres of Costa Rica?
The stone spheres of Costa Rica are man-made stone balls found around the delta of the Diquis River in southern Costa Rica, Central America. They were found one after another in the 1930s, when an American fruit company cleared the jungle for banana plantations. They number more than 300; the smallest are a few centimeters across and the largest over 2.5 meters, weighing more than ten tons.
Who made them?
The spheres are thought to have been made by the people of the “Diquis culture,” which flourished in the region from around AD 300 until the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century. They appear to have shaped hard igneous rock into balls by chipping it from all sides and polishing it. In 2014 they were inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List as the “Precolumbian Chiefdom Settlements with Stone Spheres of the Diquis.”
The legend of the “perfect spheres”
When presented as OOPArts, they are sometimes described as “perfect spheres with an error of only a few millimeters” that “ancient people could not have made.” But actual measurements show that while some are close to spherical, many are not that precise.
What they were made for is not clearly known. Theories say they showed the power of chiefs, or were lined up in settlements to indicate the positions of heavenly bodies or directions. Some were blown up by people who believed gold was inside, and many have been moved so that their original positions are unknown. Famous OOPArts are listed on the OOPArts page.
