Cultures & Traditions
The Diquís culture flourished on Costa Rica's southern Pacific coast from 700 to 1530 CE. In the Boruca language, the word "diquís" means "great waters" or "great river." The Diquís archaeological zone became a major gold-working area after the technology diffused northward from the Northern Andes, probably about 300 to 500 CE. Diquís art styles have much in common with those of the adjacent Chiriquí region of northwestern Panama. Archaeologists often treat them together as the Greater Chiriquí subarea.
Bonnie Pitman, ed., "Pendant with two frogs (1976.W.292), Pendant bell depicting a turtle (1976.W.301), Pendant depicting a batlike mask (1976.W.237)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 35.
Carol Robbins, "Pendant depicting a figure with batlike mask (1976.W.237)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas, Texas: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 181.