The Best of All Worlds: Exploring exchange and interaction with Nicoyan, Caribbean Costa Rican and Panamanian societies at the Southern Costa Rican site of El Cholo.

Summary

Recent work at the mid to late Formative site of El Cholo reveals that from at least the 3rd century AD, occupants of this mound complex interacted with Costa Rican Caribbean watershed social groups as well as western Panamanian Chiriquí societies. Evidence also demonstrates contact from as far north as the Guanacaste Nicoya region in place by the 10th or 11th centuries AD. Further analysis of the site suggests that interaction was likely initially predicated on trans-cordilleran ethnic and ritual affinities with the Caribbean watershed, a dynamic still observable in the present day Talamanca Mountains of Costa Rica. Data also suggest a gradual adjustment to an increasing southern influence from the 7th century towards the end of El Cholo’s occupation. The presence of intermontane movement along with previously documented Panamanian links highlights the particular position inhabitants of the Upper General Valley occupied, allowing them to access and integrate northern and southern influences into their own particular expression. This tropical verticality, linking spatially disparate social groups into a viable if loose network is a key point of investigation as more research suggests the over 3000 meter high Talamanca Range served more as a conduit rather than obstacle .

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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