Guayabo de Turrialba

The Guayabo National Monument is an important cultural monument in Costa Rica.

It is located in the province of Cartago between Azul and Guaybo Arriba on the slopes of the Turrialba volcano, 19 kilometers from the city of the same name.

It was made in 1973 as the largest archaeological site in the country under protection, covers an area of 217 hectares and is located in altitude of 1,100 meters above sea level.

During excavations a network of paved roads and dams, overt and covert aqueducts, cisterns, stairways, hills, rock paintings, monoliths, tombs and sculptures were exposed. Everything indicates that there was here a pre-Columbian city, which was inhabited between 1000 and 1400 before after the beginning of our era.

The Company was organized in a chiefdom, hierarchically organized into ranks. This led to a specialization of artisans and laborers structures. People practiced from hunting, farming and fishing.

The vast amount of stones and plates, which were necessary for the construction of miles of levees, canals and other basic structures, suggest a sophisticated knowledge in civil engineering and urban planning to go as well as a large amount of manpower that has over a long period were.

The archaeological area covers about 20 hectares, of which so far only a small part was exposed. Discovered it was the end of the 19th century, based in Costa Rica naturalist Prof. Anastasio Alfaro.

Guayabo was taken in 2009 by the American Society of Civil Engineers in the List of International Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks.

The area lies in a zone of mild, very humid climates. Large areas evergreen forest, rich in bromeliads and orchids that cover the area and provide refuge for toucans, woodpeckers and Oropendolas.

Trivia

During the Cuban missile crisis recordings by U.S. military satellites made ​​the Americans believe that it was a question of an unknown military facility.