The Greater Chiriquí Fringes: A Perspective from the Coiba National Park Islands on the Pacific Coast of Panama

Summary

The islands of the Coiba National Park (CNP) are located on the continental platform of Panama and the southeastern fringes of the Greater Chiriquí cultural region. During the period of the earliest human migrations to the isthmus (ca. 13,000 - 10,000 a.P.) these islands were connected to the mainland, although the current state of research cannot provide evidence of being inhabited earlier than ca. 1800 B.P. Multidisciplinary research aimed to study the long-term impacts of human on the insular forest of Coiba and its neighboring islands revealed, however, that the groups that colonized them had simultaneous affiliations with their closest neighbors from the Greater Chiriquí and Greater Coclé coastal zones. This presentation will focus on the results of survey and décapage excavation data from three of the CNP islands revealing evidence of domestic and ritual deposits from ca. A.P. 1500 - 950. I will address the issue of island colonization on a critical period when the local societies began to define themselves politically and economically, as well as the fluctuations in cultural affiliations as depicted on the material culture.

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): 22276