Mega Goal 6

Expansion 4 to 6

By "Mazin A.zamil"

The Mystery of the Great Stone Balls of Costa Rica

In the 1940s, some workmen were cutting and burning their way through the thick jungle of Costa Rica, trying to clear an area for a banana plantation. They were deep in the jungle when they stumbled upon some incredible objects: dozens of stone balls. The balls were made of solid stone and many of them were perfectly round. They varied in size from as small as a tennis ball to almost 30 feet (9 meters) across, and weighed anywhere from just a few pounds (1-2 kilograms) up to 16 tons (15,000 kilograms). The workmen were puzzled and brought the balls to the attention of others. The stone balls raised many questions. What on earth were these balls? Who made them? Why were they made? And, if humans made them how did they form such perfect circles out of stone?

Since their discovery, archaeologists and historians have tried to piece together the mystery of these great stone balls. There appear to be hundreds, if not thousands, of these balls in the Diquis Delta region of Costa Rica. They have been found all over the region, sometimes placed alone and sometimes placed in a group. The stones are made of local rock, and they appear to have been created over a period of hundreds of years.  Archaeologists have dated the stone balls according to other artifacts that were found with them. The oldest of them date back more than 12,000 years, while the most recent ones appear to have been created in the sixteenth century.

Some people speculate that the stone balls were used to mark locations, such as burial grounds and ritual sites. But in truth, the original reason that the balls were created may never be known.