Slate backs of iron-pyrite mirrors have been found in the southwestern United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, and Peru. Three engraved slate disks were recently excavated at two sites in Costa Rica, one at La Fortuna and two at Guácimo. Slate disks in this region are not unusual. Many have traces of the gum that was used for glue, and at least one fragment bears traces of the wooden frame. The significance of these three plaques lies in the designs they bear. These designs indicate that the disks were made between A.D. 435 and 500 in an area remote from lower Central America. Grave objects associated with the mirror backs include reworked jades; gold objects in Coclé, Quimbaya, and Guayas styles; and Incised Zoned Bichrome and Negative Painted Bichrome Incised wares. These disks and the objects associated with them provide insight into pre-Columbian interchange and trade routes in lower Central America, and they suggest that slate disks were important in commerce and perhaps served as ceremonial objects.
The rectangular clay bowl with a ring base shown in Figure 108 was unearthed in the area of the Old Line (Linea Vieja) in Costa Rica. It is 8.5 cm. high, 13.0 cm. wide, with an overall length of 18.5 cm., and is made of a well-fired clay painted in red. We consider this find most important as it appears to confirm the influence of foreign cultures in the area of the Old Line on the Atlantic side of the Republic of Costa Rica.The receptacle of this bowl has lateral ornamentation consisting of 2 distinct groups. The first group, at the lower part of Figure 108 a, depicts the legs of a man with calves and feet in an upright position. This peculiar detail was probably used in order to secure the esthetic arrangement of the border decoration. We see the male genitals and on the thigh of each leg the figure of a bird.
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