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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the Artifact,

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Speaker 2: a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,

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Speaker 2: focusing on particular objects, ideas, and moments in time. During

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Speaker 2: the nineteen thirties, the United Fruit Company worked a clear

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Speaker 2: additional Costa Rican jungle for new banana crops, and in

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Speaker 2: doing so they stumbled upon an enduring mystery stones spheres,

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Speaker 2: ultimately ranging in diameter from six inches to eight feet,

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Speaker 2: reaching weights of up to fifteen tons. In time, more

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Speaker 2: than three hundred of these petrospheres were discovered, all pre

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Speaker 2: Columbian in origin, the work of the Deecas people, and

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Speaker 2: found primarily in the Decas Delta of southwestern Costa Rica.

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Speaker 2: The Deacast people flourished in this region from roughly seven

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Speaker 2: hundred to fifteen thirty se is pointed out by Mark

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Speaker 2: Milligan in a twenty twenty one article for Heritage Daily

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Speaker 2: the Mysterious stone Spheres of Costa Rica. Sixteenth century Spanish

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Speaker 2: invaders seemingly made no mention of the artifacts. The cascading devastation, disease, colonization,

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Speaker 2: and war brought on by Europeans seemingly erased any knowledge

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Speaker 2: of their purpose, and the artifacts were forgotten for centuries,

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Speaker 2: hidden under thick layers of sediment, but also protected. Since

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Speaker 2: their rediscovery, the spheres have become iconic artifacts of pre

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Speaker 2: Columbian Costa Rica, with examples found in the country's own

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Speaker 2: national Museum, which I've had the privilege of visiting, and

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Speaker 2: other museums around the world. As explored in James Doyle's

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Speaker 2: A Stone Sphere from Costa Rica for the met as

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Speaker 2: well as the Denver Art Museum's online catalog, the spheres

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Speaker 2: are composed of igneous rocks common to the area, carefully

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Speaker 2: and painstakingly worked into spheres and polished with sand. Furthermore,

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Speaker 2: we know the stones were often positioned in places rather

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Speaker 2: far from the suspected source stone sites, though no quarries

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Speaker 2: or workshops have ever been found. Exact arrangements of the

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Speaker 2: stones vary from straight lines to geometric patterns, some seeming

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Speaker 2: to stand as works of public art or boundary markers

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Speaker 2: of some sort. Without any surviving myths or narratives about

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Speaker 2: the stones were left to speculate possible astronomical or celestial importance,

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Speaker 2: perhaps related to solar or lunar observations, but Doyle stresses

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Speaker 2: that such is the artistry of their construction. They surely

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Speaker 2: served as prestige objects for the Deacas people, perhaps signifying

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Speaker 2: the dwellings of the social elite. Beyond that, the stones

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Speaker 2: might have served varying purposes for the conveyance of religious information,

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Speaker 2: or even as a way to keep track of the

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Speaker 2: agricultural calendar. In some manner. The ancient Decas people left

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Speaker 2: other artifacts behind as well, elaborate metal objects such as

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Speaker 2: decorative pendants and stone platforms. They were hunters and fishermen

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Speaker 2: in addition to expert stone and metal workers. But again,

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Speaker 2: perhaps already in decline before the arrival of Europeans, the

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Speaker 2: secret of their spheres was truly lost in the ensuing destruction.

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Speaker 2: In twenty fourteen, UNESCO named four sights featuring the stones

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Speaker 2: to its World Heritage List. Tune in for additional episodes

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Speaker 2: of the Artifact, the Monster Fact or Animalius Stupendium each week.

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Speaker 2: As always, you can email us at contact That's Stuff

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Speaker 2: to Blow Your Mind dot com.

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Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

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