Navigating Pre-Hispanic Central America: Discerning Aquatic Transportation Routes and Technologies

Summary

In the lowland tropics of southern Central America during the later pre-Hispanic periods, the oceans, lakes, and rivers were interregional highways that linked dispersed societies for purposes of trade and communication. Using ethnohistoric sources, archaeological finds, and ethnographic data, we review the types and varieties of indigenous watercraft that might have been used to navigate these natural transport networks. Along the way, we consider the lifeways of these pre-Hispanic boatmen and boatwomen and the roles that they may have served in the distribution of material culture. Focusing on our research in the San Juan River basin of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, we demonstrate how Geographic Information Systems can be and are being used to map out pre-Hispanic aquatic transportation networks based on archaeological data, indigenous watercraft technologies, and water-body navigability.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Caminos perdidos y vías olvidadas: Trade Routes and Exchange Networks in Late Pre-Hispanic Central America   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage