The mysterious, almost perfectly spherical stone balls dotting the Costa Rican landscape may soon be up for UNESCO World Heritage status. But who built them circa 600 AD? Are they a map to Atlantis, or something even weirder?
John Hoopes, director of the University of Kansas' Global Indigenous Nations Studies Program, recently visited Costa Rica to assess whether the 300 or so "Dequis Spheres" qualify as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Theses petrospheres were built sometime after 600 AD but before the arrival of the Spanish in Latin America. According to Hoopes, the mysterious nature of the spheres have inspired a lot of crackpot theories, most notably that the spheres are an archaic guide to Atlantis.
"We really don't know why they were made [...] The people who made them didn't leave any written records. We're left to archeological data to try to reconstruct the context. The culture of the people who made them became extinct shortly after the Spanish conquest. So, there are no myths or legends or other stories that are told by the indigenous people of Costa Rica about why they made these spheres."
Isn't it obvious? These are the lost billiards balls of the Easter Island moai. For a more informed take on the spheres, check out Hoopes' website.
[via University of Kansas]