Giancarlo Sette

Jade: Olmec influence on Greater Nicoya culture

Abstract
The discovery in the Nicoya Peninsula (Costa Rica) of a jadeite pendant dated 500 BC and the
discovery of "olmec blue" jadeite in the valley of Motagua have reinforced the hypothesis that there
were contacts between Olmec and Gran Nicoya.
Even the iconographic analysis of jadeite and green stone pendants manufactured by these two cultures
strengthens this hypothesis.
1. Introduction
1.1. Human settlement in Mesoamerica

Fig. 1 Map of Mesoamerica

A stable and continuous settlement in Mesoamerica by the ancestors of the Olmec, Maya and Greater
Nicoya peoples is archaeologically attested since the end of the last glacial period, i.e. about
10000/12000 years ago (Stone, 1976, p. 19; Hammond , 1986, p. 102).
Initially, they were groups of nomadic hunter-gatherers. Soon, however, in the Central Valley of
Mexico they domesticated teosinte, ancestor of present-day corn, attested since at least 6500 BC
(Piperno et al., 2009), and so began the transformation of these groups in semi-nomadic ones
seasonally working in agriculture.
Permanent settlements, not even real villages of farmers but settlements occupying well protected
caves and ravines, began around 5000 BC (Stone, 1976, p. 21), but the first real villages are attested
only since 2130 BC (ibid., p. 33, although Hammond, 1986, p. 103, hypothesizes a date close to 2500
BC, see below).
Olmec culture appears in Mexico around 1700 BC, in present-day states of Oaxaca and Guerrero, and
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in the coastal area of the Gulf of Mexico just north of the Yucatan Peninsula (Pia Chan, 1989, p. 35).
Initially, the most important distribution center seems to be located in the Central Plateau, but around
1000 BC it moves to the Gulf Coast, roughly in the present-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco.
At the same time, the population increases, we are witnessing the proliferation of villages, the growth
of trade and exchange centers and this seems to bring with it the birth of well-structured and planned
ceremonial centers, controlled by a priestly caste (ibid.).
This expansion also coincides with a spread of Olmec culture to north-central and south Mexico,
crossing the Isthmus of Tehuantepec up to north-western Costa Rica (ibid.), the area where the Olmec
influence seems to appear at least from 500 BC (see below).
From 300 BC there has been a progressive and rapid decay, which leads to the "disintegration", of the
Olmec culture, even if it resists in some centers up to about 200 AD (ibid.).
Almost simultaneously with the decay of the Olmec culture, there is the flourishing of Teotihuacan
culture in central Mexico, the Mayan culture in Yucatan and in Petn and the Greater Nicoya culture
on the west coast of present-day Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
This has meant that, by many authors the Olmec were called the "mother culture", a name that today,
in the light of subsequent studies, do not charge more consensus, even if to the Olmec culture is still
recognized a great influence on almost all cultures of Mesoamerica which developed later.
The first villages of farmers appear in Maya region between 2500 BC and 1250 BC (Hammond, 1986,
p. 103), depending on the area, but we can talk about real Mayan culture, different from the farming
village culture, only from 450 BC (ibid., p. 104).
The phase of maximum development occurred between 200 BC, when its stood a large population
expansion that went concentrating in large urban centers, and 700 AD, when there was a sudden
decline of the big cities, which were one by one progressively abandoned, resulting in the population
being re-scattered across the territory.
From 900 A.D., in the Yucatan area we see the entrance of Maya Chontal and Putn populations,
which previously inhabited the coastal area southwest of the Yucatan peninsula. Mingling with the
population living in the peninsula, they gave life to the Yucatec Maya realms, which flourished until
the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadores.
Although also in the southern part of Central America traces of human presence are documented from
12000 BC and pottery remains found in the area have been dated to 1000 BC, in the Grater Nicoya the
first permanent settlements seem to appear in Vidor, about 800 BC (Snarskis, nda).
The great flowering of Greater Nicoya culture occurred from 300 BC and lasted until 8th /10 th cent.
AD, when in the region came the Chorotega, people speaking an Oto-Mangue language, attested since
at least 700/900 AD (Kaufman, 2001, p.13; Fowler jr., pp. 35-35 & 49) and coming from Chiapas,
southern Mexico (the fact that sometimes in Spanish sources they are also called Choluteca did think
that they came from the city of Cholula, in the state of Puebla).
Later, around 1200 AD, always from the same area came in Grater Nicoya the Nahuatl-speaking
Nicarao-Pipil (Mc Cafferty and Steinbrenner, 2005, p. 135; Fowler jr., cit.).

1.2. Jade processing beginning in Olmec, Maya and Greater Nicoya cultures
There is evidence that even before 1400 BC, pre-Olmec Mexican cultures worked green stones in the
form of ritual axes (Taube, 2004, p. 6) and in the coastal area of Chiapas jade ornaments were
manufactured around 1500 BC (Bouscayrol Tejada, M., 1991, fig. 14, p. 267; Clark et al., 1987,
quoted by Garber et al., 1993, p. 211), but it is only with the development of the art of jade processing
in the Olmec cultural area, that the ritual use of green stones, serpentinite and jadeite, becomes
gradually more and more emphasized.
Ritual offerings appear already at El Manat, an Olmec site in the present-day Mexican state of
Veracruz. They consist of axes in jadeite and serpentine, dated around 1350 BC (Ortz and Rodriguez,
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1994, pp. 232-237; Taube, 2004, pp. 6-7) but only in the so called Middle Formative period, starting
around 900 BC, jadeite and serpentine processing is expressed in objects of outstanding quality.
The apex of the technical and artistic expression was probably reached shortly after, as axes and
beautifully worked and carved figurines have been found in La Venta, in the state of Tabasco, in layers
dated around the birth of the complex A, which is almost contemporary of the birth of the center, about
900 BC.
Until the decline of the Olmec culture (La Venta ceases to exist around 400 BC and the whole
Olmec world seems to disappear around 300 BC) it seems that jade processing has not suffered decay,
the technique, the quality and the artistic expression never seem to have suffered regressions but only
improvements.
The artistic jade production by Maya began probably right when decayed the cultural dominance of the
Olmecs all over Mesoamerica, i.e. around 300 BC (Graham, M.,1992).
Maya reached their technical and artistic climax during the so called Late Preclassic period, around
100 AD, when for example they produced the Pomona disc, actually a great "spool" shaped hair
ornament.
Also with regard to Maya production we can say that technique, quality and expression dont seem to
have suffered declines until the time of the sudden abandonment of their cities in Petn, which took
place between 780 and 900 AD.
The oldest Grater Nicoya jade of which could be established with certainty an ante quem date was
found in the intertidal area of the Gulf of Nicoya, at La Regla site.
It was placed in a secondary burial, within a package of human bone remains, dated around 500 BC
(500 70 BC, Guerrero M. et al., 1992, p. 27; Guerrero M., 1998, p. 28).
It is a very simple pendant shaped as what is called "beaked bird", a very common shape in the
subsequent Grater Nicoya cultural tradition (v. Fig. 5).
The technical and artistic climax was reached between 300 and 700 AD (Salgado and Guerrero, 2005,
p. 53), after which there was a both technical and artistic progressive decline, as well as an
abandonment of jadeite use, who became evidently increasingly rare (jadeite finds still come from sites
dated to the end of the period, Monte Sele 450 320 AD, Mam Ins 650 110 AD, Guerrero M.,
1998, p. 28).
Probably, raw material became scarcer and scarcer and was replaced by more readily available
greenstone, such as quartzite and serpentine, worked in an increasingly rough style, until greenstone
processing completely ceased around 900 AD (Guerrero M., 1998, pp. 28-29).

1.3. The sourcing of Mesoamerican jade

There is still a debate about the location of jadeite sources in Mesoamerica.
However, I believe we are now close to put an end to the matter.
Since the question was raised, many theories have been advanced about the existence of jadeite
sources in Mesoamerica, but the only area in which jadeite have ever been found is located in the
northeast of Guatemala, around the Rio Motagua valley where there are also traces of ancient
exploitation of the mineral.
Until a few years ago, the problem was essentially in the fact that the analyses of the samples taken in
the area made them fit very well with the jades worked by Maya, but not with many of those worked
by Olmec and Nicoyans (Bishop, Sayre and Mishara, 1984).
However, the presence of jadeite outcrops in Guerrero (fig. 1) and in other parts of Mexico, repeatedly
affirmed basing on the abundance of artifacts found in the area, it has never been proven.
Moreover, this hypothesis and that of an outcrop in the Costa Rican peninsula of Santa Helena, also
never identified, are contradicted by the negative results of prospecting and lacking presence in those
areas of the rocks always associated with jadeite (Taube et al., 2004 ; Harlow, 1993, pp. 15-16).
The work published by Taube et al., just cited, summarizes all the terms of the debate and above all
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illustrates what has recently come to light.

The upheavals caused by the passage of Hurricane Mitch, in 1998, led to the discovery of extensive
outcroppings of jadeite in the mountains surrounding the Rio Motagua valley, outcroppings that
confirmed what has long been suspected.
Jadeite is a mineral with a very variable composition, leading to significant differences both in its
appearance, more or less translucent, and in its coloring, so that in recently discovered deposits they
found samples of jadeite of very different varieties.
We are still waiting for tests relating to the composition, but at visual examination some samples
match perfectly with the two classic varieties of jadeite, emerald green and blue green, carved by
Olmec and Nicoyans, more translucent than the apple green stones carved by the Maya.
In short, we have not yet definitive proof, but everything now leads to the conclusion that jadeite
outcroppings in the Sierra de las Minas and in the mountains surrounding the Rio Motagua valley have
been the only jadeite sources for all Mesoamerican peoples.
1.4. Trade routes and influence on jadeite processing
It is generally accepted by archaeologists that the Olmec developed long trade routes, exercising a
great influence over the entire Mesoamerican area (Pia Chan, 1989, p. 191; Salgado and Guerrero,
2005, pp. 60-61). This opinion is supported by the existence of Olmec or Olmec-style statues and basreliefs in Maya area until northern Salvador (Parsons, 1981, p. 285; Stone, 1976, pp. 43-44), and by the
discovery of numerous objects of Olmec manufacture, in jadeite and terracotta, in the entire Maya area
and in Costa Rica.
We can only hypothesize the routes followed by the Olmec and is a matter of debate if they are only
terrestrial, or were held by sea-river and, in this case, if they take place on the Pacific or the Caribbean
coasts: it seems likely, for example, the attendance of a coastal route which, starting from the Olmec
territory on the Gulf of Mexico (fig. 1), touched the coasts of Yucatan, then those of Guatemala to the
mouth of Rio Motagua, i.e. the area of procurement of rough jadeite, continuing along the east coast of
Honduras and Nicaragua to achieve and go the San Jun river up to lake Nicaragua, likely area of
exchange with the inhabitants of Greater Nicoya.
On the other hand, it would be difficult to otherwise justify jadeite processing in Olmec territory since
1350 BC and in Greater Nicoya since at least 500 BC, because the only source of rough jadeite to date
ascertained is located in the Rio Motagua valley, on the eastern coasts of Guatemala.
In this regard, mapping (Fig. 1) and dating seem to speak clearly.
Olmec society, almost since its arising, based his religious rites largely on objects in green stone,
probably because green is the color of vegetation and water.
Initially, to build floors and paved roads in sacred areas, and axes and statuettes intended to religious
ceremonies, they used green serpentine, a stone relatively easy to find along the rivers of Mexico,
particularly in the area of Guerrero and Oaxaca.
Likely, leading their trade routes toward south, Olmec may have come in contact with jadeite, they
appreciated its quality and started to work it, especially emerald green and blue-green specimens, the
latter not surprisingly by archaeologist called olmec blue jade.
Thus arose the need for them to obtain supplies of raw material, which can only be found in
Mesoamerica to at least 500 km away as the crow flies from the southern limit of the areas they
settled: Veracruz (Fig. 1), at the center of the Olmec area is about 900 km as the crow flies from
Copn, center which controlled the nearby deposits of jadeite in the Motagua valley; currently, a
prudential road layout is at least 1200 km long.
The only outcrops of jadeite established until today, as well as being very far from the Olmec area, are
in an inhospitable territory: the valley of Rio Motagua is very steep, surrounded by high mountains, it
was controlled by non-Olmec people and, paradoxically for a damp tropical zone, it is little rainy and
almost desert.
This valley is crossed by a river, the Motagua precisely, which is full of jadeite pebbles dragged from
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the Sierra de las Minas. The river flows into the Caribbean in a flat area, the plain of Sula, where it is
easy to establish a trading post and it is easier to arrive by sea that not by land.
One must also take into account the fact that Mesoamerican peoples didnt have available any beast of
burden or hauling. It was therefore easier to transport loads by water than by land.
Keeping a short distance from the coast, sailing in the Caribbean is not difficult, even if the distance is
long, just as it is not difficult to go up the Rio San Jun, a river flowing placidly along the present
border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, to Lake Nicaragua, where some products, maybe also
jadeite, could be exchanged with cocoa beans and perhaps even Spondylus shells, so much appreciated
by Mesoamerican people and coming from the very far coasts of Ecuador (Mora Marn, 2005, p.30).
In 500 BC, when it is already attested jadeite processing in Greater Nicoya, Olmec society is still well
firm, because it is almost three centuries away to its sudden decline. These merchants and skilled
craftsmen maybe did impress Greater Nicoya inhabitants, which certainly bought Olmec green stone
amulets, as we will see in chapter 2, and began to imitate them,.
We know that the Olmec built canoes, it is testified by their own jades (e.g. Pia Chan, 1989, photo 59
p. 134). Knowledge and use of such a route does not seem impossible, since Columbus reports having
met, off the Yucatan during his 4th trip, a canoe with 40 Maya rowers, carrying among other a load of
cocoa beans.
It is true that the 4th voyage of Columbus came in 1502, when the ancient Olmec were not anymore
even a memory, but the idea that they too did trade along that route is not far-fetched.
On the other hand, Nicoyans didnt have the same prestige and ascendancy as the Olmec, so it is
difficult to otherwise justify in the nicoyan territory, since 500 BC, the presence of jadeite coming
probably from the Motagua Valley, distant as the crow flies almost 700 km crossing rough territories
populated by potentially hostile people. Also because there is no trace of cultures related to jade or
processing of this material from the southern limit of Maya homeland up to the Rio San Jun, a strip of
Central America more than 500 km wide (see fig. 1).
It's hard to think that if there was a trade route through this terrestrial band, a bit of jade would not stop
"along the way".
The site of La Mina, in the southwest of Nicaragua very near the Costa Rican Greater Nicoya, is the
only exception to date ascertained (Salgado and Guerrero, 2005, p. 58).
Paradoxically, the few objects in green stone found in the area between southern Maya homeland and
the southwestern Nicaragua seem to have been produced in Greater Nicoya or imitation of nicoyan
products (Stone, 1976, pp. 58-59; Mora Marn, 2005, pp. 51-56). Therefore, it seems that jade, arrived
in Greater Nicoya from the area of Rio Motagua, once worked then "moved up" to northern territories.
Once the Olmec decayed, jadeite trading came under sole control of the Maya: initially, it seems to
have been controlled by the inhabitants of present-day Belize (Mora Marn, 2005, p. 2 and 4), later, by
the city of Copn, in present-day Honduras, very close to the plain of Sula (Mora Marn, 2005, pp. 2930) and presumably took place along the same routes as before (ibid.).
Copn became a very powerful city since about 426 AD and declined immediately after the conquest
of power by a foreign warrior, which occurred in the year 822 AD, although it was inhabited for about
two centuries more.
Also as far as the end of the processing of jade, dating and maps (fig. 1) seem to speak clearly.
Around 300 BC Olmec culture, very large jade user and perhaps technically unsurpassed, suddenly
declines until it disappears completely, while blooms Maya culture: we do not know the causes of this
sudden collapse, but it does not seem a coincidence that the only jadeite supplying source is situated in
the means of the territory controlled by the latter and that Olmec religious culture was based on jadeite.
Between the end of 8th cent. A.D. and the beginning of 10th Maya society in turn suffers a collapse, of
which similarly we do not know the precise cause and as result of which the great cities are
abandoned.
Almost simultaneously, in Greater Nicoya jadeite, whose trade is controlled by the Maya city of
Copan, become increasingly rare. It is replaced by quartz, jasper and green serpentinite while
5

processing technique becomes more and more rough, until it disappears completely at beginning of
10th century.
Since the only known supplying source of jadeite is in the valley of Rio Motagua, in the area
controlled by the Maya of Guatemala, it is quite obvious to think about the interruption of trading
routes between Maya and Greater Nicoya.
Actually there is another factor to consider, as we have seen previously.
During the 8th cent. A.D., on the eve of the great crisis of Mayan cities and the decline of traditional
Greater Nicoya jade processing, Chorotega people arrived in Greater Nicoya.
It doesnt seem a coincidence, although to date we didnt discover evidence of the fact that it was a
bloody invasion or it initially affected the trade routes that from the city of Copan, Honduras, leaded
jadeite up to Greater Nicoya (Mora Marn, 2005, p. 31).
The conclusions that I feel me to draw from those shown above are very personal and touch upon a
very controversial topic.
Mark Miller Graham is of the opinion that jadeite arrived in Greater Nicoya exclusively by Maya
traders. Even the objects of obvious Olmec production found in Costa Rica and of which I will speak
in Part 2, in his opinion arrived through commercial mediation with the Maya, after the collapse of the
Olmec society. This, because this scenario seems more economical than any other (Graham, 1992, p.
189).
In short, in his opinion this hypothesis would be the simplest, the one asking for less explanation, the
less complicated solution.
Also David Mora Marn (2005, pp. 10 et seq.) is of the same opinion, while not basing its argument
solely on the alleged "economic efficiency ".
Michael J. Snarskis, however, expressed serious concerns about, based on considerations of style and
expedience, so to speak (Snarskis, ndb).
Few authors deal with this topic: probably the three mentioned are currently the most authoritative.
Mora Marn (2005, p. 14) suggests immediately an objection to his own hypothesis: if jadeite arrived
in only at the time when they traded with Maya people, why Nicoyan artifacts show a strong influence
from the Olmec culture while not showing any influence from that of the Maya?
The answer would be that we see Maya motifs in some Greater Nicoya pottery of the Rosales
Engraved in Zone type dated between 300 BC and 500 A.D. (ibid.; Abel-Vidor et al., 1987, pp. 62-64),
as well as the existence of a common Maya- Greater Nicoya theme in figures of jade, what he calls the
"Charlie Chaplin silhouette", attested in Costa Rica since at least 114 AD (Mora Marn, 2005, pp. 1422).
These dont seem to me persuasive evidences.
Maya motifs appear in Nicoyan pottery of Rosales Engraved in Zone type after 300 BC and in jade
objects are attested from 100 AD, jade carving appears in Greater Nicoya at least in 500 BC, there is a
gap of at least two centuries. Moreover, Salgado and Guerrero (2005, p. 60) state that Rosales
Engraved in Zone pottery type was actually produced in Nicaragua and arrived in Greater Nicoya area
through commercial exchanges.
There's more.
Snarskis (2003, pp. 163-164) reports that although it is not archaeologically documented the discovery
of Olmec jades in Costa Rican contexts contemporary to the period in which the Olmec produced them
(c. 900-500 BC), the forms and decorative styles of several early ceramic complexes investigated by
archaeologists in Greater Nicoya area suggest that contacts took place in that period and the existence
of long-distance maritime trade already in the period 1200 - 500 BC.
Unfortunately, since almost all objects of Olmec manufacture found in Costa Rica have been
recovered by huaqueros (see Part 2) and therefore they lack of context, it is not easy to deal with this
matter and it is impossible to do this on the basis of objective archaeological data.
The only Olmec object of jadeite unearthed in Costa Rica by archaeologists, and therefore properly
contextualized, is the Talamanca Tibs jade (see Part 2). While the object itself, to stylistic analysis,
6

appears to have been produced by the Olmec around 500 BC (Snarskis, ndb and 1979), the funerary
context in which it was found is dated between 1st and 4th cent. A.D. (Snarskis, 1992, p. 148), which
would seem to confirm the hypothesis of Graham.
However, the object in jadeite found in the Greater Nicoya site of La Regla, a pendant depicting a
being of the so-called beaked bird type (fig. 5), comes from a context dated 500 70 BC.
The features of this object are sometimes defined olmecoid because the shape of the birds beak recalls
that of the duckbill present in many objects of Olmec manufacture.
And here is in my opinion a second objection to the hypothesis that there has been no contact between
Greater Nicoya and the Olmec: if the manufacture of objects in jadeite is documented in Greater
Nicoya as early as 500 BC, while among the Maya appears after 300 BC, since jadeite in Costa Rica
does not exist and therefore it was imported, it is possible that only the Maya have traded with Greater
Nicoya? Why Maya people would have considered as precious commodity a stone that they
themselves apparently still did not appreciate? And if the Maya still did not appreciate it, through what
kind of mechanism Greater Nicoya inhabitants would have learned its existence and great culturalmagical-religious value, since they would not have had contact with the Olmec, which instead held it
in such high regard?
Moreover, Mora Marn itself, p. 1 and 2, in point 1 of its preamble, states that Maya trade route started
from 300 BC: what about the artifact from La Regla, dated 500 BC, that the author at pag. 15 admits of
absolutely Nicoyan workmanship and style?
There are also some other questions complementary to these.
Among the many thousands of artifacts in jadeite found in Costa Rica, mainly in the Greater Nicoya
area, there are about sixty objects certainly manufactured in the Maya area (Mora Marn, 2005, p.13),
and only one of them is contextualized.
The latter was found by Swedish archaeologist Carl Hartman in 1905, in the Greater Nicoya site of Las
Huacas and comes from a funerary context dated between 300 and 500 AD.
Mora Marn (2005, pp. 10-14) analyzes stylistically the glyphs present on some of those Mayan jade,
deducing that none of them may have been produced before 270 AD.
It follows that none of those jades could have reached Greater Nicoya area before 300 AD, because
they are cut from pendants of Maya royal belts, then probable war booty dismembered and recycled
through trade.
So, the date he proposes for these jades is close to what stylistically established for the only one
contextualized.
Were going back over again: why did Greater Nicoya people develop a culture linked to jade,
showing olmecoid features maybe even 800 years before knowing Maya jades, if they had no contact
with the Olmec?
In addition, the Maya produced essentially two-dimensional objects, while Olmec, Nicoyans and the
inhabitants of Costa Rican Atlantic Watershed produced objects in the round, three-dimensional.
More generally, as we will see later, Costa Rican stonework is in no way influenced by Maya style
while showing great influence on the part of the Olmec: why? In this regard, Easby (1968, p. 81)
notes: interrelationship were too widespread for the tradition of jade carving to have arisen in Costa
Rica independent of northern influence. Lacking Maya elements, it can only have come from an earlier
source: directly or indirectly from the Olmec.
All these questions, to which in my opinion the hypothesis of Mora Marn and Mark Graham does not
give a persuasive answer, instead lead me to think that there were contacts between Olmec and
Nicoyans, at least from the 6th cent. B.C.
In my opinion, it is not to underestimate even the fact that the arrival in Greater Nicoya of ChorotegaMangue people, dated around 700 AD, does not seem to have led upheaval in that area.
Chorotegas started from Mexican areas that had belonged to the Olmec culture development area. As a
result, either they were heirs of this culture or however it was by them well known and therefore they
"familiarized" with Greater Nicoya people to which this culture was to be known as a superior one.
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2. Olmec and Nicoyan Iconography of jadeite artifacts

2.1. Olmec jades found in Costa Rica
Not many Olmec jades are said to have been found in Costa Rica, most are said to come from Greater
Nicoya area, almost all the other from the so-called Line Vieja pertaining to the Atlantic Watershed
cultural area, one from Cao island, one from the Central Valley.
Unfortunately, only the latter was found during an investigation conducted by archaeologists, in the
town of Talamanca de Tibs, not far from San Jos, Costa Ricas capital.
All the other, as well as large part of Costa Rican jades, come from excavations carried out by so-called
huaqueros, seekers of pre-Columbian artefacts operating long before the investigations being regulated
by laws, even from pre-Columbian times themselves, as Maya, Nicoyans and Aztecs, for example, were
already great collectors of jade artifacts and pottery belonging to earlier cultures (huaca, from which
huaquero, is a word of Quechua language, meaning "place, animal, sacred object").
For this reason, only about the big pendant from Talamanca de Tibs we have documentation that
certifies origin and association with other findings, in short, we know the context of deposition.
As for all other Olmec artifacts said to have been found in Costa Rica, we have no reliable
documentation about the deposition context, we must be content with the news given to us by
huaqueros, news that comes with great reluctance and therefore neither abundant nor, often,
trustworthy.
In practice, all that can be said is that a significant portion of them would come from the surroundings
of Bagaces, a little town situated on the western slopes of the Cordillera de Guanacaste, in the Greater
Nicoya area, and from the vicinity of Gucimo, Linea Vieja area, located on the eastern slopes of the
Cordillera Central.
In his study, Anatole Pohorilenko (1981, pp. 311-320) lists 14 olmec jades reported from Costa Rica: 6
from Bagaces, 3 from other locations of Guanacaste, 5 from the vicinity of Gucimo.
Carlos Balser (1993 pp.38, 40 and 117) adds 3 from Bagaces vicinity and one from the Atlantic slope.
Other 2 from Guanacaste, 1 from the Atlantic side and 1 from the Central Valley are published by
Graham (1998 pp.38-48) and 2 are published by Snarskis (2003, p. 166), 1 from the Nicoya Peninsula,
the other from an unknown location of Costa Rica.
Lus Ferrero (1979, p. 440 and lamina XIX) illustrates 1 coming from Nosara, near Nicoya, and 1 from
the Atlantic slope, while Easby Kennedy (1968, pp. 91-92) presents 2 from the surrounding of Gucimo
and Mora Marn (2005, p. 52) 1 from Cao island, in the Pacific, pertaining to the Diquis cultural
region.
To these must be added 1 "spoon" found in the Bagaces area and 2 vaguely defined "from Costa Rica",
a pendant in black quartzite and a "spoon", published on the web.
So, in total 30 are those I know have been published, as many as 10 of them from Bagaces and 6 from
other sites of Guanacaste. Snarskis (2003, p. 162) states that one can safely say that at least three or
four dozen Olmec jades have surfaced there (i.e. in Costa Rica).
2.2. Iconography of Olmec jades found in Costa Rica and comparison with some jade artifacts
manufactured mainly in Greater Nicoya
As far we know, as many as 7 Olmec pendants of jadeite found in Costa Rica are of the so called
"bloodletting spoon" type and 2 are a fragment of such a spoon. All were reworked in Costa Rica, but
they keep well clear their original shape. Let's see in fig. 2 some examples, compared with specimens
definitely coming from Olmec proper area.

Fig. 2

Now, lets see from where they think these specimens are coming and how they are interpreting the
motifs incised on the so-called spoons.

Fig. 3
10

In fig. 3 I present the drawings of some objects manufactured in the Olmec area.
The first two drawings are related to celts of Olmec manufacture unearthed in Mexico that are
commonly called axes or celts. Actually, the name by which these objects are identified refers to their
general shape, because this resembles that of a "petaloid axe", but they are too voluminous to be real
axes, while the end which should be the cutting edge is not sharp, rather it is rather thick.
Most likely, they are votive statues or objects considered sacred. For ex., the Kunz axe is more than
27 cm high, it weighs some kgs and it is so called after the mineralogist George Kunz. From its back
were sawn thin flakes supposed to have been used in ceremonies of buildings consecration or soil
fertility propitiation.
Perhaps these axes portray a shaman while transforming or just transformed into a jaguar: judging
from the sculptures that the Olmec left us, this animal was very important for their religious culture.
Jaguars traits are highlighted by the representation of the eyebrows (see note 1), the shape of the eyes,
nose, nostrils and upper lip, and the presence, in Kunz axe, of fangs.
The axe at the right, coming from the site of La Venta (Mexico, state of Tabasco), confirms that they
were related to rites of fertility of the soil, as the heads top shows the typical V-groove that is nothing
but the germination furrow of corn (see note 2).
The drawing below to the left depicts a jadeite axe-head found at Cerro de las Mesas, in the Mexican
state of Veracruz, the other to the right is the development of a negative painting on a bowl from Las
Bocas site, in the state of Puebla.
Both have the shape of what appears to be a crested bird with a big beak. It is not clear what kind of
bird is it, maybe a parrot or a harpy eagle.
It's important to note that the crest is represented in a similar way to the Jaguar eyebrows just seen in
the axe from La Venta.
In light of the foregoing, it is evident that the "spoon" at the center of Fig. 3 summarizes all of these
characters: jaguars eyebrows, mouth and fangs and bird's beak.
Why the fangs are forked is still a matter of discussion, but it seems a character connected to the Vgroove on the head of La Venta axe. So, like the axe, also the spoon is interpreted as an object linked
to fertility rites.
Since it has a clear depression in the "tail", and given that bloodletting was linked to the same rites,
we think it have been actually an object to collect the precious blood, in order then to scatter it on the
ground or dip it on strips of paper to burn in the sacred fire (see note 3).
Lets now see how the same figures have been reinterpreted by artists/artisans in Greater Nicoya.
In fig. 4 we see at the upper right, the axe-head found at Cerro de las Mesas, while at the upper left the
reworked axe-head found in an unknown location of Costa Rica: apart from the fact that the latter is
missing the lower third, the resemblance is clear.
Most likely, the lower third of the latter was lost due to breakage, so that the holes which originally
served to secure it to its handle have been widened to transform the object in an element of a collar
with a double row of beads. Furthermore, its flat front segment has been thinned and engraved with
a pattern of "alligators back skin", typically of Costa Rican tradition and tied to the fertility of the
earth (Snarskis, 1998, p. 67).
The 4 lower pendants of fig. 4 were found in different areas of northern Costa Rica, but it is likely they
all have been produced in Greater Nicoya area.

11

Fig. 4
It seems pretty obvious that they derive from the two Olmec "phenotypes" shown in the upper section,
especially the central two, although there are added elements, for example the stretched eye of the
Olmec bird in the Costa Rican objects has become a big round/squared eye, which is at the same time
12

an earspool, worn by the shaman of which the pendant is a representation (see below).
From an iconographic point of view, the two pendants at the sides seem represent a further step: the
"crest" has become an "alter ego", that is, the stylization of another beaked bird or a humanoid face.
For the one to the left, as often happens to jade artifacts manufactured in Costa Rica, there is even the
possibility of a further reading: when viewed in lateral horizontal position, the figure of the humanoid
face becomes the stylization of a toucan.
What kind of bird these four pendants represent seems equally rather obvious: it is probably the
quetzal, a bird that lives in the cloud forests of the Cordillera de Guanacaste, whose male in mating
season develops bright, emerald green colored, and very long tail feathers, which for all Mesoamerican
cultures were the symbol of the vegetation luxuriance (see note 4).
The workmanship of the four pendants is very accurate, even if pendants at the sides seem of slightly
lower quality compared to the central two. In particular, the leftmost has squared earrings and has 90
angles and angular shapes, because it is much more difficult to realize curved lines than straight ones.
In any case, these four pendants look like products of a technically well-developed lithic industry, and
this fact does place the creation of these items after 300 BC, perhaps between the 1st and the 4th cent.
A.D.
Of course, jade manufacturing did not start in a way so developed and we have no shortage of
examples.
In particular, the item shown in fig. 5 is the one which helps us to understand how things started in the
Grater Nicoya area.

Fig. 5 - jadeite pendant found at the

site of La Regla, Gulf of Nicoya,
Costa Rica.
The original color of the stone is
apple green

It is a jadeite pendant found at the site of La Regla, on the east coast of the Nicoya Peninsula, during
excavations by archaeologists of Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, then properly contextualized.
Radiocarbon dating of a piece of wood found next to the artifact gave us the date of (500 70) BC
(Guerrero M. et al., 1992, p. 27).
Carefully observing this object, you see how the figure of a beaked bird that appears frontally is a twodimensional rendering of the birds observed in the three-dimensional pendants of fig. 4, although it
lacks the "crest".
The proportions are almost the same: about 1/3 for then head, from 1/4 to 1/3 for the chest, the rest for
the "tail" clearly thinner and evidently "separate" from the rest of the figure.
Why a two-dimensional ancient figure while most recent ones are three-dimensional? Probably it is a
technical issue, due to the refinement of skill and technique of processing a material as difficult to
treat as jadeite.
Beyond what in the figures of these objects we can recognize at a first and immediate reading, they
probably represent the figure of a shaman disguised as bird, of which the Olmec "bird-monster" of fig.
13

2 is the archetype (or "phenotype", as I called it).

For the Olmec, this bird monster was tied to "paradise", or rather, to the highest heaven, to corn and
fertility in agriculture, as well as to ecstasy produced by the ingestion of psychotropic substances
(Snarskis, 1998, p. 64 ) that leads to the feeling of "magical flight".
All objects that appear to our eyes as the artistic production of Olmec and Nicoyans, whether made of
jade, serpentine, green jasper, lava stone, terracotta and gold, are related to this concept: the power of
the shaman, induced by the ingestion of hallucinogens, to transform himself into his alter ego and take
flight to communicate with the beings of the higher world.
A category of jadeite pendants of typical Costa Rican production, nicoyan in particular, is what they
call "avian axe god", in Spanish dios hacha de pico largo or, more briefly, "ave pico".
Such pendants are obtained by half-sawing, along the vertical plane, a petaloid celt and shaping its
convex surface in the form of an anthropo-ornitomorphic being.

Fig. 6
On the left, profile of a petaloid axe,
dotted the splitting line.
At the center, one of the two halves
thus obtained.
To the right, a half with highlighted
the "almond" split fracture, which is
also seen in the drawing at the center.

Below, a view from the heel with

highlighted fracture, in relief

The resulting figure has approximately the same proportions as seen previously: about 1/3 for the head,
from 1/4 to 1/3 for the chest, the rest for a smooth and thinned blade, never sharpened.
Birds eyes and beak are always evident, in the center of the top of the head there is a V groove,
usually the two parts of the skull separated by this groove are worked, sometimes shaped as tufts (in
this case the object is called "tufted pendant"), sometimes in the form of jaguar or bird head, on the
chest are clearly shaped the folded wings and sometimes, under the wings, we see the hands, more
rarely are highlighted also the legs.
In fig. 7 well see four examples, each illustrative of a slightly different kind of such pendants: the
first three are from Greater Nicoya area, the fourth from the Atlantic Watershed but they think it was
also produced in the Greater Nicoya.

14

Fig. 7
Even with modern technology jadeite is a very difficult material to work and to Mesoamerican
artists/artisans, as we know of their techniques, every scratch traced on manufactured items cost
certainly a lot of working hours and a remarkable amount of effort.
This has always led me to think that all signs present on these artifacts, even the smallest and
seemingly irrelevant, should have a meaning.
15

Why, then, the eyes of pendants nr. 1, 3 and 4 are surrounded by one or even two thin curled lines?
As for object nr. 3, this contour lends the "face" a feline appearance, so we would think of being in the
presence of a bird-jaguar.
But for the other two, which was its usefulness, what it meant to emphasize?
I have already mentioned the fact that Costa Rican jade objects coming from Greater Nicoya or
Atlantic Watershed very often offer the possibility of diverse readings, according to the viewing angle.
Moreover, Costa Rican pendants of this type are structurally "inverted" with respect to those produced
by the Olmec. I mean, in Costa Rican pendants the head of the figure is carved on the axes poll, while
the Olmec (see in fig. 3 Kunz and La Venta axes) used to carve it on the opposite end. I believe that
the structure adopted in Costa Rica, especially in Greater Nicoya, expressed an intention to make
readable only to elitist social class, part of the symbolism that was in its exclusive cultural and
religious heritage.
Then, lets try to read some pendants of dios hacha (axe-god) and ave pico (beaked-bird) types upside
down than normal reading as it is suggested by the suspension holes (almost all Costa Rican jade
objects have holes considered suitable for suspension, although often they have no traces of use).
In fig. 8, pendants of fig. 7 have been turned upside down and were added, for comparison,
reproductions of 4 Olmec objects.

Fig. 8
Observing the four Costa Rican pendants in this position, we can read, in the most worked area, the
figures of four humans, with very short legs, their arms folded to the center of the chest and hands that
seem turned upward.
These humanoids (the image they suggest me is that of a garden gnome) wear a pointed hat, a miter, to
which sides there are some kind of wings.
As suggested by the arrows in fig. 8, it seems clear the influence on the Costa Rican pendants of a
16

combination of iconographic elements present in the Olmec artifacts, illustrated on the top line.
Let's see how these elements, in my opinion, can be explained.
For a long time the two Olmec jadeite statuettes on the left of the top row, have been considered the
image of a supposed butterfly-god, of which however there is no trace in the whole Olmec sculpture
corpus.
Only in 1998 Graham proved that the believed wings are a stylization of rain clouds, so the two objects
are nothing more than the image of a shaman-priest of the rains cult (Graham, M., 1998 pp. 43-46).
Besides the presence of the "wings", it is clear that the position of arms and hands are identical in the
two jades, while the central one wears a helmet on his head with a band very similar to the frontal band
of the miter worn by the individual emerging from the cave of La Venta altar 5.
The miter -shaped hat is represented quite often in Olmec sculpture and had to be a very important
cultural factor (see note 5). In fig. 9, the drawings of two other Costa Rican examples and a statue in
andesite coming from the Toltec area.

Fig. 9
17

As for the position of arms and hands, everything becomes clearer observing the next drawing.

Fig. 10a

Fig. 10b

The bas-relief of Chalcatzingo monument 1 (fig. 10a) depicts a shaman or the winds god sitting in the
cave from which winds arise, suggested by spirals coming out of the cave, carrying the clouds shown
at the top, which are leaving falling raindrops, allowing vegetation to sprout, as it is suggested by the
plants sprouting from the top of the cave. In magnification (fig. 10b) you can see the position of the
arms and hands of the person sitting in the cave (see note 6).
This is wearing a headgear shaped as a Phrygian cap from which frontal band a bud is sprouting.
On the headgear is leaning a long unidentified object on which are drawn some symbols exactly the
same as those that appear on the skirt of the person and below the clouds that you see in fig. 10a: they
are little tubular jade beads = raindrops (see note 7).
Hanging from the object on the headgear you see two alter-ego in the shape of a beaked-bird with
long tail, in practice two quetzals, a bird that live in the cloud forests of Guatemala and Costa Rica and
have long emerald green tail feathers, the reason why it is the symbol of the Mesoamerican luxuriance
of vegetation.
On the band holding the skirt worn by the person, immediately above the tubular jades = raindrops, it
is engraved a symbol indicating a cloud (see below the "Manoplas").
In short, the person inside the cave controls the rain and is propitiatory of lush vegetation (see note 8).
The anthropomorphic beings that are seen by inverting some nicoyan pendants recall many of the
motifs I highlighted in the Olmec statues and carvings, so I tend to think that they represent the
shaman who owned the pendant, with his attributes of "Rainmaker", to simplify (see note 9).
Remaining in the field of "strange" signs, there is another type of rare nicoyan pendants, which present
strange figures at the poll sides, as in the case of fig. 11.

18

Fig. 11
Normally, at the polls sides there are stylized figures of animal heads, usually birds or jaguars, more
rarely alligators.
In the case illustrated in Fig. 11, we see clearly the attempt to replicate the typical mask of the Olmec
jaguar-god, even with signs engraved on the back of the pendant.
About why a theme so dear to the Olmecs was replicated on nicoyan objects in so a cryptic manner,
19

see the conclusions.

One of the most characteristic productions of the Olmec culture is that of statues of persons holding in
their hands objects that have been mysterious for a long time.
Until a few years ago, these objects were called Manoplas in Spanish and knuckle-duster and in
English, because this was the definition that seemed better fitting their shape, although it seemed
unlikely that the function was the same one suggested by the word (the term manopla remains still in
use, although now we know that does not correspond to the function of these objects).
In figure 12 we see in the top row two examples, one on the left is a picture of a statue in serpentine
from San Pedro Tlepatlaxco, state of Puebla, Mexico, now in the Museum of Dumbarton Oaks,
Washington DC, while the adjacent drawing represents the monument 10 of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan,
Veracruz state, Mexico (we know a lot of monuments like this, in the Olmec territory)

Fig. 12

20

As recently demonstrated Karl Taube (2004, pp. 79-85) studying the statuette in the serpentine,
manopla is actually a Strombus ssp. half-shell, symbol used to indicate a rain cloud (and the symbol
present on the waist band of fig. 10a,b metaphorically indicate the same thing, cit., pp. 83-84).
The third drawing concerns a dios-hacha pendant found in Greater Nicoya, near Bagaces.
Three elements indicate that this pendant was possessed by a person of the highest rank: the
herringbone pattern engraved on the headgear, nicoyan sign of royalty, the long tongue protruded and
finely engraved, suggesting us the personage as "big talker" (see note 10), and the woven pattern
engraved on the tongue, which the Maya called mat, sign of control power for all Mesoamerican
peoples.
The pits on the sides of the mouth and those that indicate the eyes have been realized using a pump
drill, a technique used only by Olmecs and Nicoyans.
Also the habit of practicing two pits at the sides of the mouth is shared, in Mesoamerica, only by these
two cultures.
So when you begin to illustrate a nicoyan pendant with these features (open mouth, broad and square,
with well-marked lips, bits at the sides of the mouth and practiced, such as those of the eyes, with a
pump drill) you are talking of an olmecoid pendant, because these details lead to think that it is an
object produced under the influence of Olmec culture and consequently the graphic signs at the sides
of the mouth must be seen as the nicoyan interpretation of Olmec Manoplas.
In this regard, it seems to me very significant that, as we saw at the beginning of part 2, as many as 10
jade objects, of Olmec manufacture, come from Bagaces (and 6 from other sites of Guanacaste),
although on none of these the Manoplas are depicted.
Moreover, in the vicinity of Bagaces were found many other jade pendants of Nicoyan workmanship,
in addition to the one just outlined, presenting olmecoid features.

3 Conclusions
In par.1.4. I closed my exposure seriously considering the hypothesis that there had been contacts
between Olmec and Nicoyans, at least from the sixth cent. B.C. and how, in this regard, we cannot
underestimate the fact that the arrival of Chorotega-Mangue peoples in the Greater Nicoya, dated
around 700 AD, seems to have brought upheaval in the area: since Chorotegas originally inhabited
areas in Mexico previously inhabited by the Olmecs, they familiarized and perhaps became integrated
with Nicoyans, because both populations well knew the Olmec culture.
I closed last chapter focusing on the fact that in the vicinity of Bagaces, a small town on the western
slopes of the Cordillera de Guanacaste, i.e. in the middle of the area in which Greater Nicoya culture
developed, were found as many as 10 jade objects of Olmec manufacture and some other jades
pendants of Nicoyan workmanship presenting olmecoid features.
There is no archaeological evidence indicating that Olmec culture peoples moved to Greater Nicoya
before Chorotega migration, which happened when Greater Nicoya culture was already setting. There
is not even oral tradition of this, least of all written documentation. However, the Olmec influence on
jade pendants production in Greater Nicoya is clear and accepted by all scholars.
What I consider possible is the existence of artisans or itinerant artists, of Olmec culture, which
introduced in Greater Nicoya the art of jade carving.
The fact that this art took root in that area, while there is no trace of it in the immediately adjacent
areas, between the regions of Mexico and Guatemala occupied by the Olmecs and Maya and the
Greater Nicoya region, I think it can only be explained by the existence of non-terrestrial trade routes.
Another hypothesis is that the Olmecs have established in Greater Nicoya region, perhaps near
Bagaces, a fixed trading post, as in other areas of Costa Rica did certainly the Aztecs and probably the
Mayas.
The formers established a fixed trading post on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, in an area where it
21

is sure the presence of gold-bearing sands which they bought bartering for other products.
This trading post continued to operate even after the arrival of Cortez in Mexico.
The fact that there arent two identical jade nicoyan artifacts, but there are many replicas of the same
basic motif, led me to think that some motifs constituted a kind of clans insignia, as well as a symbol
of power.
This is almost certainly true for mace heads, but it probably the same for vertical pendants which recall
the jaguar, the eagle, the monkey, the pizote (coati) and the alligator.
However, bar pendants and those defined as "winged", which they worn horizontally, is much more
likely that they were signs of belonging to the dominant caste, i.e. pure signs of power.
As for dios hacha pendants which can be read upside down (fig. 8) and those with more cryptic signs
(see figg. 11 & 12), my idea is that they were in possession of persons which wanted to target
initiates, esoteric objects, in short, or indicating membership in a class/brotherhood that would reveal
itself only to the followers (like the members of todays Masonic lodges, for example.).
That the symbolism that these objects can reveal is linked to the Olmec culture could be exactly a sign
of identification.
All Mesoamerican jade pendants have this prerogative, they were "the cowl that does make the monk
", but the cryptic ones had to turn to a particular audience, the one who could understand their
message, so to speak.

Notes
(1) For example, Pia Chan (1989, pp. 78-79) demonstrates that low relief looking like flames are
actually a representation of jaguar eyebrows and that St. Andrew's cross, X, represents its coat
equivalent to the starry sky. On pages. 78-79 he shows the terracotta statue of an Olmec priest
covered with a jaguar skin while turning in the same animal (eyes and eyebrows as flames, thick lips,
gummy mouth with everted and upturned upper lip.)
(2) See in this regard Taube, 2004, pp. 26-30. On pp. 115-117 there is the explanation of why it is
conceivable that for the Olmecs the same axe was a representation of corn seed.
And it is interesting to note that physignomy of the were-jaguars and of the so-called Olmec babyfaces recalls that of humans with Down syndrome. In this light, the groove on the head is probably the
anterior fontanelle.
It is also possible that in the metaphor "corn furrow-> fontanelle " we have to find the origin of the
Olmec sacrifices of infants, as documented in the site of El Manat (Ortz and Rodriguez, 1994).
In this place, in a freshwater spring placed in an area where the water is mostly salty, archaeologists
found the skeletal remains of some infants or even fetuses, in association with wooden human busts
and votive axes of greenstone, serpentine and jadeite, of typically Olmec workmanship.
The skull of one of the infants has a V-groove on the forehead, intentionally practiced (ibid., p. 241),
although it is unclear whether the infants were intentionally killed in a sacrificial rite, or we are in the
presence of secondary depositions (the bones were fragmented and dispersed, except in one case) of
the remains of naturally dead babies.
(3) Peoples of Mesoamerica obtained from the bark of Ficus padifolia and F. cotinifolia a material
similar to our paper. In their painted vase, Maya artists represented in detail the ritual of self-sacrifice
of blood and combustion of soaked strips of the same is.
(4) A diadem made of quetzal and cotinga feathers was donated by Montezuma to Charles V, by
means of Corts, and is currently preserved in the Museum fr Vlkerkunde in Vienna.

22

(5) Moreover, even in the ancient cultures of Egypt, Europe and the Near East the pointed hat, miter or
cone, has always had a connection with religion, power and magic. From conical gold hats dating to
the Bronze Age, found in Germany and France, which most likely were signs of magical-religious
power, to the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt and the Phrygian cap typical of the priests of the Sun
which became, through the cult of Mithras, the miter of Pope and bishops, this brings to the hat of
witches and sorceresses.
(6) The person tightens to his/her chest a bar engraved with the Mesoamerican symbol of power,
which you seen also on his/her seat.
Many Maya kings are portrayed in the stelas in this attitude, see e.g. Tikal stela 16, Copn stela N,
Quirigu stelas A and F, in addition to the image engraved on the Leyden plaque.
(7) It's interesting to note that the Aztec goddess linked to water was called Chalchiutlicue, i.e. "jade
skirt", and was represented as a woman who just wore a kilt all quilted with tubes of jade.
(8) Except in the work of Taube mentioned below, in all other texts talking about this matter, shaman
is a male.
Taube, however, since the person is wearing a skirt, talks about a seated woman (cit., p. 84, fig.38f).
Since the Olmec male full-length statues usually have them with only a loincloth, it is possible that this
is actually a woman.
(9) Note that the Olmec statuette in the upper left has, in the center of the belt, a small axe with a V
groove, symbol of the corn seed, while above Chalcatzingo cave and on the front belt of the priest of
La Venta altar 5 it is traced a 'X' that symbolizes the jaguar coat= starry sky.
In addition, the clouds of Chalcatzingo are the upper lip of the same animal and the cave is a
representation of its mouth.
(10) The leader of the Aztecs, which we call emperor, had the title of Huey Tlatoani i.e. Great
Talker.
And it is likely that this title was referring to the fact that he was also the supreme pontiff and thus had
the power to communicate with the beings of the higher worlds.
In this sense they interpret the long tongue protruded appearing in many nicoyan pendants of the so
called dios hacha type.

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