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A recent catchment analysis - in which a series of natural resource zones and environmental variables are related to the location of human settlements - of a small sample of Atlantic Watershed archaeological sites revealed an interesting trend. Through Periods IV and V (some 2,000 years) there was an increasing tendency to locate settlements on reasonably flat alluvial plains suitable for farming. In Period VI, the distribution of sites in several environmental zones becomes random, suggesting that other factors besides good farmland became important in choosing a site; these factors were probably socio-political frontiers and defense. Period VI habitation sites in the Central and Atlantic zones are usually easily recognized because of their rudimentary but distinctive architecture: round, earth-filled mounds or simple foundations with retaining walls of stone cobbles; calzadas, or cobble-paved causeways; small ridged enclosures or plazas; and even aqueducts and giant flagstone bridges in the larger sites. Petroglyphs (rock carvings) are frequent. Just as noticeable to the archaeologist is the degree of agglomeration (houses and other features packed together) which gives the sense of definite site boundaries. There seem to have been networks of tightly organized sites, small and large, often surprisingly close together.
The largest, most complex site known for this period is Guayabo de Turrialba. Other major sites in the Atlantic lowlands are Las Mercedes, now destroyed; Anita Grande; Costa Rica Farm; and, on a smaller scale, La Cabana. Such sites probably number well over 100 in this archaeological zone, although only Guayabo and La Cabana have been excavated horizontally, in part. MNCR excavations in La Cabana in 1976-77 exposed two circular mounds, 20 meters across and less than two meters high; one non-mound house circle, 12 meters in diameter; and a square, ridged enclosure surrounding an empty "plaza," with a cobble-paved causeway leading into it. Horizontal stripping of the two main mounds showed that Mound 1, the higher, had only a central hearth, while Mound 2 (from which a curved porch-like area projects near the entrance) had along one part of the interior a series of four or five boulder metates, sometimes surrounded by stone seats; one had a mano nearby. In addition to the central hearth, several smaller ones were noted. The presence of food processing on one mound and not the other would seem to indicate a different function for each. The taller Mound 1 might be construed as the residence of the ruling individual or group, with Mound 2 housing wives or others having to do with the domestic maintenance of Mound I inhabitants. Fray Agustin de Zevallos, writing in 1610, describes several customs of the peoples then living in eastern Costa Rica, "who live in palenques, which are forts built in native fashion.... The chiefs have the women that they desire all in the same house, and the common people generally have one....". At La Cabana stairways off the two major mounds, as well as one major and three minor paved causeways, enter the empty plaza area. Within the walled, square enclosure surrounding the plaza were found small, stone cist tombs or caches containing prestigious ceramic artifacts. A plaza area with enclosure has been noted in all major Period VI sites, invariably near the principal mounds. At Anita Grande, two very large quadrangular plazas are connected by a causeway almost 500 meters long. It is tempting to interpret this plaza configuration as the formal place of contact between the ruling class and the lesser population of the site, perhaps for ritual redistribution of goods. Stone cist burials predominate in Period VI, under or around houses and in
special cemetery zones. Much In Period VI, cobbles were used as quotidian metates. Slightly used mortars and hammerstones seem to have been frequent. Ornate ceremonial metates did not disappear, however, although styles changed. Four-legged jaguar-effigy metates appear, and round versions with pedestal or atlantean bases become more common. Free-standing stone sculpture increases sharply, tending to repeat "standard" or "archetypal" poses; idiosyncratic poses (women braiding their hair, a man urinating) are also seen. Some sculptures seem to be portraits of specific individuals, even depicting deformities or facial tics. While earlier stone sculpture almost always portrayed zoomorphic effigies or, at best, a human figure with a zoomorphic mask, Period VI sculpture primarily records human subjects. This must represent a fundamental philosophical shift, wherein military or political power was augmenting at the expense of the traditional "religious" power base, probably as a result of population pressure on certain resources and/or new modes of conflict resolution. The hubris of emergent warrior-chiefs may have caused them to erect stone images of themselves as large as, or larger than, those of their zoomorphically symbolized deities. With a few exceptions, Period VI pottery is of poor quality compared with that of earlier cultures, and there seems to have been less of it. Crude little ollas and tripod dishes of a coarse, poorly knit paste are the most frequent finds. Better preserved examples are overloaded with decoration (incision, tool stamping, applique pellets, fillets impressed to look like chains, and crudely modeled heads or animal figures). Lothrop called this Stone Cist Ware. Brown incised/engraved types from the end of Period V continue throughout Period VI, increasingly carelessly made. Resist decoration usually appears only on high-status pieces. Dishes or slightly flaring cylindrical jars with animal-head tripod supports are found, as they are in Guanacaste-Nicoya, but the long-legged tripods of the two preceding periods virtually disappear. Seen more frequently is an unusual skillet-like form, known as a frying-pan censer. apparently used for burning incense. Cartago Red Line begins in this period, first as simple or tripod dishes, often with a stylized feline head and tail added on; red finger-painted lines on orange slip decorate the earlier varieties. Later, the red paint becomes more vivid, a cream slip replaces the orange, and more animated design possibly attempts to copy the brilliant Papagayo Polychrome traded in from Guanacaste-Nicoya.
In other Period VI ceramic types, a Diquis or Chiriqui stylistic influence can be felt. Irazu Yellow Line shows geometric designs in thick yellow paint on two-tone orange and brick-red slip. while Cot Black Line has similar motifs in weak black and red paints on orange-brown slip. Especially important are open dishes or bowls, with effigy-head tripod supports. The geometric motifs recall those of Chiriqui Polychrome, a late Diquis type that may have been inspired by Guanacaste-Nicoya polychromes. Another Atlantic type, Turrialba Bichrome, exhibits very thin vessel walls and elegant, simple olla forms in the best examples, recalling the delicacy of the exceptional Tarrago Biscuit type of Diquis. Trade sherds of Tarrago Biscuit found at Guayabo de Turrialba, provide more concrete evidence for ties to the south.
 Metallurgy was the most important material-culture introduction from the south, reaching its apogee in the Central Highlands-Atlantic Watershed during Period VI. The disappearance of jade working by 1000 A.D. has previously been attributed to the exhaustion of local jade sources, but we may now consider the possibility that Atlantic and Central cultures at this time were simply not concerned with jade as mythologically significant material, preferring gold amulets or other articles important in a southern-oriented ritual complex. Figurines, ocarinas, rattles, and other small special-purpose ceramic articles (with the exception of a well-made brown incised type that spans the transition between Periods V and Vl) are very rare in this period. Stone and wood carving may have taken precedence over the ceramic medium for figurines. Five C-14 dates from La Cabana-phase sites range from 1000 to 1400 A.D. Next »
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more use was made of flagstones as floors or lids of cobble-built tombs, or as
the sole element in tomb construction. Several stone cist cemeteries excavated
around Cartago by the MNCR contained extended primary and secondary burials,
some tombs containing both kinds. Cups made from human skulls were found above
many tombs. Exhumation and reburial seem to have been practiced, for many tombs
were divided, added to, or built in as many as three vertical layers. Stone
cists in the Atlantic lowlands are more often made of carefully chosen cobbles,
chocked with smaller stones; no mortar was used. Grave goods in stone cist tombs
are usually fewer and of poorer quality than those of the preceding periods.
Many tombs contain no offerings, although perishable articles may have been
included. Tiny quartz crystals, used as gravers, were found in several stone
cists in the Cartago valley (Hacienda Molino and El Cristo sites). One tomb
yielded a copper bell with a quartz crystal inside it. 
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