Celtiform pendants from pre-Columbian Costa Rica : production, distribution, and experimental replication / Waka Kuboyama-Haraikawa.

Oxford : BAR Publishing, 2023.

1 online resource (xvi, 149 pages) : illustrations (black and white, and colour), maps (colour).

Access is available to the Yale community.

Access restricted by licensing agreement.

This volume elucidates the lapidary technologies and social organisation of pre-Columbian Costa Rica (500 BCE - 900 CE) by analysing the manufacturing and social role of lapidary ornaments, known as celtiform pendants. These pendants are characterised by skilfully decorated carvings on celtiform semiprecious rocks and minerals, such as jadeite. A human or animal face is carved on the poll of axe, and these sophisticated images require large amounts of time and effort to create, hence they are interpreted as status symbols and prestigious objects. They represent a thousand years of tradition of the manufacture of high-status ornaments and were used by elite members of Indigenous Costa Rican societies.

BAR Publishing.

Print version :

Books / Online

English

January 18, 2024

Includes bibliographical references.

Specialized.