Native People of the Americas Archives

Prior to the arrival of Columbus in 1492, a vibrant patchwork of neolithic native people blanketed North and South America. Highly adapted to their local terrain, they cultivated new world crops that are still staples in our modern world including corn, potatos, squash, tomatoes and peppers. Their history stretches back as far as 16,000 years, including advanced and large societies with equally large cities.

Exquisite Hummingbirds in Costa Rica
I can honestly say that the hummingbirds of Costa Rica are the most beautiful birds I have ever seen and I will share them with you in this post. Hummingbirds are from the New World and constitute the family Trochilidae. They are some of the smallest birds in the world and have the greatest metabolism […]
Curious White-Nosed Coati in Costa Rica
When I visited Costa Rica recently, on several occasions we ran across groups of White-Nosed Coati (Nasua narica). These curious creatures are related to raccoons although they have many idiosyncratic differences. The White-Nosed Coati (Nasua narica), also known as the coatimundi is a member of the family Procyonidae which includes three other species of Coati, […]
Dazzling Frogs in Costa Rica
When I was in Costa Rica for a bird photography tour recently with Tropical Birding, I had an opportunity to visit Frog’s Heaven, a place that specializes in catching wild frogs for photography. The frogs are subsequently released back into the environment. These tiny frogs are getting harder to find, even in the optimized environments […]
Pre-Columbian Jade and Pottery in Costa Rica
Throughout the 2nd millennium BCE there existed in Costa Rica small, disperse villages, non-nomadic agricultural communities that used ceramic bowls and utensils, and tools made from wood, bone and stone for agricultural tasks and food preparation. The oldest of these agricultural village communities (2000–500 BCE) has been found in the province of Guanacaste. More recent […]
Paleoindians and Stone Tools in Ancient Costa Rica
Since I am visiting Costa Rica for a bird photography tour, I thought I would write a post on the pre-Colombian cultures of this area. Costa Rica appeared to be a dynamic, fluctuating frontier zone between two major spheres of pre-Columbian cultural influence: Mesoamerica (central Mexico through El Salvador) and northern South America, primarily Colombia. […]

#soliloquy-container-15644{opacity:1}#soliloquy-container-15644 li > .soliloquy-caption{display:none}#soliloquy-container-15644 li:first-child > .soliloquy-caption{display:block} Exquisite Hummingbirds in Costa Rica