Dissertation Research: Religious Organization and Political Structure in Pre-Hispanic Southern Costa Rica

University Of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

Under the supervision of Dr. Robert D. Drennan, Felipe Sol will carry out an archaeological survey in the Upper Térraba Basin of southern Costa Rica in order to study the relation between religious organization and political structure in the region's ancient societies. Religion was often an important political element in early complex societies, but the role that religion played in the initial establishment of centralized political organization seems highly varied. The Upper Térraba Basin was apparently integrated into a society of regional scale during the Chiriquí period (around 1000 AD). Its principal center was a large community at the archaeological site of Rivas, an extensive complex of ceremonial and residential platforms with associated cemeteries. The survey that Mr. Sol will carry out will document the patterns of residence and the distribution of ritual and economic activities across the region in which Rivas emerged as a major center. The regional distribution of settlements - and especially the patterns of change through time in this distribution - are sensitive indicators of the relationship of a hinterland population to a political center, and of the centripetal forces that draw a regional population together. The artifacts recovered in different occupation zones across the region will provide indicators of the distribution of both economic and ritual activities and help to identify what kinds of activities were especially centralized at Rivas. The results of Mr. Sol's survey will place the emerging political center in a broader regional context, and enable him to assess the role that religion played in the emergence of one complex society in the past. It will thus help to understand more generally the ways in which politics, economy and religion connect in the large-scale complex societies in which most of humanity lives today. The research will have broader impacts as well. As dissertation research it is vital to the training of the doctoral candidate. It will also enhance public understanding of science by collaborating with the Tropical Science Center in its work with local communities to increase appreciation of the natural and cultural resources of the region and of the opportunities that these present for scientific research. As a regional survey it will also make a major contribution to the registration of the region's archaeological remains and aid in the protection and preservation of Costa Rican cultural heritage.