Greater Nicoya and in the first training course for young archaeologists to be sponsored in Central America by the Organization of American States.

Conclusion

In this entry, Costa Rica and Nicaragua have been dealt with as two separate entities. In terms of the history of archaeology as it has been practiced in the two countries, this is perhaps the best method. However, in terms of reflecting the prehistory of the two countries, it creates artificial barriers. Nicaragua and Costa Rica share prehistoric cultural communalities along both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, and Costa Rica has communalities with Panama in the south; Nicaragua with Honduras and El Salvador in the north.

These communalities were recognized by some of the more observant early explorers and archaeologists. These have more recently been concretely demonstrated by instrumental analyses of jade and ceramics conducted by Ronald L. Bishop of the Conservation Analytical Laboratory of the Smithsonian Institution, and obsidian analyses conducted by Fred Stross and Frank Asaro of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory at the University of California.

Not only in reviewing the history of Costa Rican and Nicaraguan archaeology but also in foreseeing its future we see the long-term need for balance between cultural and historical studies and the testing of systems and models. There are still vastly unknown areas of Central America (the Nicaraguan and Costa Rican segment of the map is reproduced on page 374) for which we still need the most basic cultural and historical data with which to formulate problems of broader and more general interest.

The history of Nicaraguan and Costa Rican archaeology began with the explorations of early travelers, developed with the assistance of foreign archaeologists, and is gradually becoming the primary responsibility of country nationals. The late 1970s and the early 1980s were a golden age for the development of national archaeology in both countries. In Costa Rica this momentum has been maintained, while in Nicaragua it has stalled temporarily.

Nicaragua and Costa Rica are on the verge of developing the basis for collaboration that is essential for regional studies and for approaching many of the cultural and historical problems that need to be researched. It is hoped that when the next history of the archaeology of these two countries is written, a heightened level of cooperation between the universities, museums, and professional communities will be one of the highlighted themes.

Frederick W. Lange

See also

Rouse, Irving

References

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