New Evidence for Ceramic Systems in Precolumbian Bocas del Toro, Panama

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

For several thousand years before the arrival of Spanish explorers in 1502, Bocas del Toro, Panama, was home to numerous vibrant cultures. However, this area has seen only sporadic archaeological study over the past century. While surveys and excavations have revealed several multi-period settlements, with complex, multiphase ceramic assemblages, Bocas del Toro has generally been considered a cultural backwater and remained largely understudied (Linares 1977, 1980; Haberland 1976, 1984). Recent excavations on Isla Colón, Bocas del Toro, have uncovered a dense archaeological landscape including several habitation sites, burial and house mounds, and a diverse, sizable collection of subsistence remains and cultural materials. Several ceramic phases are evident, but the ceramic typology and chronology are still vague and unpublished. Additionally, many of the ceramic artifacts found on Isla Colón appear to have been incorporated into wider systems of exchange and cultural interaction (Wake 2013; Wake and Martin 2016). Through the application of ceramic analysis, this research aims to identify the varieties of pottery being made and used on Isla Colón before AD 1500 by constructing a mutable typology. The classificatory system involves modal and compositional data in an effort to identify specific traits with cultural salience.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33542