Set in Stone? Exploring Petroglyphs in the Context of Early Complex Societies in Southern Costa Rica
Across southern Costa Rica, hundreds of boulders bear carved spirals, dots, interconnected lines, and, less frequently, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic motifs. Many of these petroglyphs are located near settlements, rivers, pathways, and burials, and thus formed part of the landscapes in which past communities lived and moved. The EPICS Petroglyph Project examines these within these wider contexts to explore how stoneworking, movement, place, and social organisation were interlinked in the pre-Columbian past. Its main research question is: How are ancient petroglyphs embedded within the wider archaeological landscape and how may their spatial relation to nearby sites help us shed light on their function and significance?
Why investigate petroglyphs?
Petroglyphs are highly visible and present within the landscape, yet their functions are quite underexplored, especially considering their widespread distribution across the Central Americas and the amount of effort that went into creating them. Their study and recording are urgent, as the climate, vandalism, and increasing clearing projects are causing their rapid deterioration and destruction.
Previous studies of Costa Rican petroglyphs have largely focused on their motifs, styles, and classification, often treating the engravings as isolated examples of ancient rock art. Their archaeological contexts, however, have received comparatively little attention.
While some are associated with monumental architecture or other forms of stoneworking, such as regionally specific sculptures, others appear to have been deliberately positioned along routes in the wider landscape. In combination with their wide range of sizes and forms, this suggests that petroglyphs likely did not serve a single purpose. Instead, they may have functioned as markers, meeting places, waypoints, or territorial features, and formed part of the social and ritual life of pre-Columbian societies in this area. Rather than assuming that petroglyphs carried the same meaning or function everywhere, EPICS explores whether their form, placement, and associations varied between the differing landscapes of southern Costa Rica.
Aims & Objectives
This project aims to analyse the spatial relationships between prehistoric petroglyphs and archaeological settlements in southern Costa Rica to understand the role of stoneworking in its early complex societies. By (re-)documenting several hundred petroglyphs, it will investigate their locations, forms, and designs, focusing on three key objectives:
1. Analyse Spatial Relationships: Identify how petroglyphs relate to nearby settlements and power centres, exploring their potential functions, e.g. within larger spatial networks, as markers for trade routes or areas of social or political influence. In future research, this will contribute to understanding how stoneworking practices may reflect larger socio-political dynamics and human-landscape interaction in ancient southern Costa Rica.
2. Investigate Regional Patterns: Document recurring motifs and regional variations in petroglyph shapes, aiming to uncover potential relationships between forms and iconographies. This will also inform future interpretative studies. 3. Establish Comprehensive Dataset: Create the first and only comprehensive dataset of petroglyphs in southern Costa Rica by mapping them and associated sites, recording contextual information, and digitally preserving these artefacts using high-resolution 3D scanning, drones, and photography. This resource will enhance global accessibility to Costa Rican rock art and aid in assessing erosion rates and manufacturing practices.
Methods
EPICS combines archaeological fieldwork with advanced digital technologies and spatial approaches to examine how petroglyphs were made, where and why they were placed, and how people may have encountered and interacted with them over time.
Recording and mapping: Petroglyphs and their context are systematically documented (including their size, shape, motifs, general workmanship, and current condition) and mapped alongside settlements and other archaeological features. Recording size and form further allows for a classification that supports comparison both within and between sites.
3D documentation. High-resolution photography, photogrammetry, and 3D scanning are used to create detailed digital models of the stones. These may reveal faint or particularly weathered carvings that are difficult to see in the field and provide a record for future research and conservation.
Surface analysis. Microscopic imaging and surface morphology analysis allow us to examine traces of carving and working, and thus enable us to investigate not only how petroglyphs were made, but also whether techniques may have varied between sites or regions.
Landscape analysis. The application of GIS and spatial analyses allows us to identify patterns across the Southern Zone and to examine the relationships between petroglyphs, settlements, routes, and other features.
Significance
This research is expected to redefine our understanding of the spatial relationships between petroglyphs and the pre-Columbian communities that created them. It explores regional transitions in style, local networks, power distribution and the political-spatial organisation of ancient societies in pre-Columbian Central America. By examining the physical context and distribution of petroglyphs, the project will deepen our understanding of the role of material culture in navigation, territoriality, and human-landscape interaction. This approach will provide a more comprehensive picture of the complex sociopolitical dynamics of early Central American societies.
This project addresses a significant gap in Central American archaeology by expanding the body of knowledge on the Isthmo-Colombian Area and its large-scale stoneworking practices. Archaeological evidence points to extensive mobility and exchange networks and shared stoneworking traditions with Mesoamerican and South American societies. Iconographies and associated belief systems likely transcended regional boundaries, shaping material culture and human-landscape relationships across the Central Americas. Contextualising Costa Rican petroglyphs within this wider context, the project facilitates future interregional investigations on the role of mobility and exchange on belief systems and their materialisations.