Pre-Columbian Site Wins Award

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has recently awarded the designation of International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark to Costa Rica’s Guayabo National Monument, a pre-columbian archaeological site. Macchu Picchu is the only other pre-columbian site to garner this award.

The Guayabo National Monument was nominated by the Costa Rican Engineer and Architects College (CFIA) for its fascinating infrastructure of buildings, functional aqueducts and cobblestone roads, particularly the central road in the village that leads to the Ceremonial Center. The main road was designed with several retaining walls in order to maintain the land’s inclination.

The aqueduct system is also quite impressive and still functional. The ancient residents handled water with reservoirs, filters and stone pipes, which are still filled by nearby creeks and springs.

The Guayabo National Monument is located in the province of Cartago and is considered the main pre-Columbian archaeological site in Costa Rica. Located in the mountains just 83 kilometers east of San Jose, the Guayabo National Monument holds fascinating evidence of the once prosperous tribe that lived there. Burial sites, petroglyphs and the world-renowned stone sphere are just a few of the attractions at this historic site. According to experts, the site may have been occupied as early as 1,000 years before Christ and, at its peak, have as many as 10,000 residents. It was abandoned around 1400 for reasons still unknown.