The first scientific investigation of the spheres was undertaken shortly after their discovery by Doris Stone, a daughter of a United Fruit executive. These were published in 1943 in American Antiquity, attracting the attention of Samuel Kirkland Lothrop[5] of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University.[6] In 1948, he and his wife attempted to excavate an unrelated archaeological site in the northern region of Costa Rica.[7] The government had just disbanded its professional army, and the resulting civil unrest threatened the security of Lothrop's team.[citation needed] In San José he met Doris Stone, who directed the group toward the Diquís Delta region in the southwest ("Valle de Diquís" refers to the valley of the lower Río Grande de Térraba, including the Osa Canton towns of Puerto Cortés, Palmar Norte, and Sierpe[8]) and provided them with valuable dig sites and personal contacts. Lothrop's findings were published in Archaeology of the Diquís Delta, Costa Rica 1963.