For centuries, a dense canopy of jungle concealed this site from view, and with it a remarkable trove of artifacts — objects of unfamiliar form and, in many cases, of wholly unknown function. Their sheer number, and the unusual density with which they were deposited, has led a number of researchers to propose that the site served as a large burial ground: in this reading, the objects would have accompanied the dead, provisioned for use in the afterlife. Others remain unconvinced. The variety of the finds, and the apparent absence of any consistent arrangement, has suggested to some an alternative interpretation: that this was a place of exchange, perhaps a marketplace of considerable scale. A third hypothesis, advanced more recently, holds that the site functioned as a court of law — a reading prompted chiefly by the recovery of several devices whose form appears consistent with the administration of punishment.
No consensus has yet been reached. The objects displayed here are presented, therefore, without firm attribution of purpose.
