Pre-Hispanic ritual space of the Nicaraguan South Caribbean

Abstract

This work focuses on the interpretation based on the obtained data through archaeological prospections and excavations in Sombrero Negro, located in La Batea community, municipality of Muelle de los Bueyes, in the Autonomous Region of the South Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua (Región Autónoma de la Costa Caribe Sur, RACCS, for its acronyms) . This place is characterized by the high presence of materials from the pre-Hispanic period such as stylized rocks, engraved stones (petroglyphs), concentrations of lithic materials and ceramic fragments on the surface and a sepulchral area. Many of the rocks reflect figures of animals (crocodiles, birds), which have been used for their original forms for stylization. The engravings in stone show anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, phytomorphic, geometric and abstract representations. In three excavated pits, elements were identified of how these were elaborated, as well as ceramic and lithic artefacts that were placed in an orderly way inside them. As a result of this study it is determined that Sombrero Negro was a space where ceremonial practices were developed (rituals, worship, etc.); therefore, it was a significant place for the society that produced it. According to the comparative analysis of ceramic technology, the site was occupied between 400 BC., and 440 AD, relative chronology reinforced in theoretical and methodological approaches that belong to the archaeological and ethnography sciences.