Abangares, Guanacaste. mining production as an example of industrial archeology in Costa Rica

Abstract

This article focuses on the investigative potential of the contexts associated with a case of gold extraction developed in Costa Rica by a transnational during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The intensity with which the ore was extracted from the Abangares mountain range, as well as the state-of-the-art technology at the time, which is present in a large part of the mines called Tres Amigos and Tres Hermanos (La Sierra district); makes this place an optimal space for the development of anthropological, archaeological and historical research. However, to start we will focus on the evidence found on the property of the Ecomuseo de Las Minas de Abangares, an instance directed by the local government (municipality). Several of the material remnants of this mining production are found "in situ" and with part of them the Ecomuseum of Las Minas de Abangares was created, which has a declaration of "Historic Architectural Monument" according to Law 7555 of Costa Rica. The foregoing constitutes one of the first declarations of an asset as industrial architectural heritage in the country (declared in 2001) and that offers possibilities for future research, conservation and dissemination in Costa Rica of these contexts.