It is made up of three archaeological sites: Jiquilito, Sonzapote and Las Cañas; burials have been found in the latter and in the other two, in the mid-19th century, the stone sculptures that made the island famous were located.
The Squier-Zapatera Collection is the name given to more than thirty pieces of sculpture made by the Chorotegas on this island in the Great Lake of Nicaragua. It is called Chomitl-Tenamitl (stone wall) in the indigenous language. These were discovered in 1849 by the American diplomat Ephraim George Squier (1821-1881), who found 15 statues in Jiquilito. In 1883, a Swedish naturalist revealed the existence of another 25 in Sonzapote. The following year, 34 were counted in both sites. From 1924 to 1942, in six expeditions, they were transferred to the Colegio Centroamérica in Granada, run by the Jesuits. Almost all of them are preserved in one of the premises of the former Instituto Nacional de Oriente —where they were relocated in 1970—, today the Centro Conventual San Francisco.
The local archaeological wealth is truly immense: statues, petroglyphs, ceramics and other artifacts were and continue to be discovered today in almost the entire island, and in some of its satellite islets such as El Muerto Island. Regarding the chronology of the engravings on El Muerto Island, it is believed that they were made by the Chorotegas. If this relationship is confirmed, it may allow us to establish that the figures correspond to the Middle Polychrome period (800 – 1200 AD).
In 1954, Luis Cuadra Cea, an archaeologist, famous for his 1941 publication entitled La Monumental Gruta de Montelimar tried to date the rock art of El Muerto Island, placing it 400 years before the Popol-Vuh was written by Diego Reinoso at the end of the 1350th century. Assuming that there is currently no relationship establishing the connection between the Maya-Quiché and the indigenous people of the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, from a purely chronological point of view, it is possible that the figures mentioned were made at that time. Corresponding to the Late Polychrome period (1550-XNUMX AD). The designs here are mostly stylized zoomorphic (animals/birds) and anthropomorphic (humans).
