Settlement, Subsistence, Culture Change and Networking: New Perspectives on Bocas del Toro’s Integration with Greater Central America

Summary

Understanding the settlement chronology and degree of interaction and integration of Caribbean western Panama within "Gran Chiriqui" and greater Central America has driven archaeological research in the region since the 1950’s. Hernan Colon’s accounts of Bocas and adjacent Costa Rica depict a populous region, with vast fields of maize, people traveling about in numerous canoes and wearing more gold objects than ever seen in the New World. Lothrop’s 1947 synopsis of the "myth" of the Sigua settlement of Panama/Costa Rica Caribbean coastal plain suggests an enduring influence of Nahua, perhaps even Mexica, speakers moving into the region from the North. Linares’ and Ranere’s 1980 foundational study of western Panama raised perhaps more questions than it provided answers. Together these works have inspired a new generation of archaeological study in the region, the results of which have radically altered the perception of the area’s pre-colonial history. A synthesis of new data more clearly illustrates the time-depth of greater Bocas del Toro’s settlement, subsistence system, and interaction with greater Central America.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20296