Arquitectura demostrativa y asamblearia en el contexto paisajístico del sitio arqueológico Guastomatal, Mansión de Nicoya, Costa Rica

Research at the Guastomatal archaeological site in Costa Rica reveals a unique residential and assembly architecture, featuring two elevated foundations and a U-shaped plaza bounded by stone walls. These structures share similarities with sites in the Central Caribbean region of Costa Rica, suggesting a common pattern of chieftain status-related administrative and religious activities. The site also exhibits landscape attributes such as formalized roads, earthen ridges likely used for palisades, and deposits from a chipped-stone workshop and midden. Preliminary dating places Guastomatal between 600-900 C.E., based on ceramic and architectural correlations. This study highlights the significance of limited monumentality sites with strong landscape symbolism in understanding pre-Columbian chiefdom settlements.

Vázquez, R. (2026). Demonstrative and assembly architecture in the landscape context of the Guastomatal archaeological site, Mansión of Nicoya, Costa Rica. Cuadernos de Antropología, 33(2), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.15517/cat.v33i2.54498