UTILIZACIÓN DE ROCAS ORNAMENTALES EN COSTA RICA DESDE TIEMPOS PRECOLOMBINOS HASTA EL SIGLO XX

 

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Autores: Alvarado, Guillermo E., Cárdenes, Guaria, Alvarado, Fernando, Murillo, Jerry, Arias, Michelle
Formato: artículo original
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de Publicación:2011
Descripción:Rocks, as dimension stone and for construction, have been used in Costa Rica at least since the last4000 years. Igneous rocks (mainly lavas), alluvion and with less importance sedimentary rocks, intrusive and lowgrade metamorphic rocks (including hydrothermally altered rocks), were used for monuments (facings), construc-tion of housing, and religious, sculpture and domestic objects (axes, metates, tables, etc.). The so called pre-Co-lumbian jades are green rocks of diverse types, including foreign (jadeites and nephrites from Guatemala and Mexico) as well as local rocks (sandstone and chalcedony, among others). During the conquest and colony, Costa Ri-ca was a poor nation with scarce hand labor dedicated to basic priorities, so the use of ornamental rocks was veryrestricted. At the end of the XIX century and up to the first half of the XX’th, the main architectonic works at the Central Valley (monuments, buildings, churches, streets and sidewalks) were constructed mainly with lavas fromBarva and Irazú volcanoes, Río Grande ignimbrites, followed by limestone (Barra Honda, El Viejo-Península deSanta Elena, Turrialba, San Miguel de Patarrá) and from imported marble from Carrara (Italy). Marbles and travertines have been equally spread in the funerary industry. The use of dimension stones in housing are mainly circumscribed to facing of walls and facades, sidewalks and gardens, represented by reddish scoria from Sabana Re-donda de Poás, pebbles of rivers, lavas from the Central Volcanic Range, and the “molejon” (orthoquarzite). Ot-her dimension stones used in diverse works (granites, gabros, serpentinites, etc.) are of limited use and of foreignorigin, so the cost is high. A change in the economy and culture starting at the 80’s decade of the XX century,brought a more open, dynamic and light construction, implying a lower use of dimension stones, not only in buildings, but in the cementeries as well (the new Holly Fields). However, Costa Rica has a potential not well eva-luated on respect of the use of native dimension stones, virgin land for future specific researches.
País:Portal de Revistas UCR
Institución:Universidad de Costa Rica
Repositorio:Portal de Revistas UCR
Lenguaje:Español
OAI Identifier:oai:portal.ucr.ac.cr:article/8529
Acceso en línea:https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/geologica/article/view/8529
Access Level:acceso abierto