The Archaeology of Highland Chiriqui, Panama -- Documents, Images, and Datasets
Summary
Archaeology is defined by its grounding in material objects; without contextual elements of space and place, however, material culture is devoid of much of its meaning and archaeological information. This article focuses upon pre-Columbian objects – including gold, ceramics, and stone artefacts - from a small, localized area of the Chiriquí region of western Panamá in the context of the volcanic landscape. The discussion is intended as a provocative introduction to the archaeology of highland Chiriquí rather than an exhaustive exploration and seeks to convey the contemporary context of an understudied archaeological region. Chiriquí, like the isthmus of Panamá overall, inhabits a nebulous place in archaeological conception due to its positioning below Mesoamerica and above the Andean world. This academic displacement is further complicated – or potentially prompted - by the de-contextualization of vast quantities of pre-Columbian artifacts in the late nineteenth century after large cemeteries were discovered in 1859 and then subjected to several decades of intensive excavation by individuals seeking monetary gain, adventure, or both from the experience. Antiquities removed from Chiriquí at this time were transported to museum collections throughout the western world. While the removed artifacts attest to the richness of pre-Columbian material culture, the sites from which they came were effectively erased from the landscape and archaeological conception. I draw from diverse, ephemeral and cartographically imprecise sources of information provided by accounts from looters and adventurers, antiquarian reports, museum accession files, and rumor to extrapolate possible locations for looted sites that provided the materials held in the major museum collections. I place these ‘un-firm’ locations in a GIS in conjunction with precisely located sites from systematic survey to show how they relate to one another. A concomitant role of this article is to make data from fieldwork I conducted between 2000 and 2005 in highland Chiriquí accessible to other researchers. In this article, I tease out one particular grave and the materials used to construct it from these data as synecdoche for myriad thousands of looted Chiriquí graves as well as the archaeological need to seek new forms of data.
Preparation of this electronic publication and associated archive was assisted by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Cite this Record
The Archaeology of Highland Chiriqui, Panama -- Documents, Images, and Datasets. ( tDAR id: 4243) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8VX0HXQ
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Keywords
Culture
Archaic
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Bribrí
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Chibchan
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Chiriquí
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columbian
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Concepción Phase
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pre-columbian
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Tropical Forest Archaic
Material
Building Materials
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Ceramic
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Chipped Stone
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Dating Sample
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Fauna
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Ground Stone
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Human Remains
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Macrobotanical
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Metal
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Mineral
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Shell
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Wood
Site Name
Barú
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Bugaba
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Bugavita
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highland Chiriquí
Site Type
Archaeological Feature
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Burial Pit
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Cemetery
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Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex
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Domestic Structures
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Funerary and Burial Structures or Features
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Isolated Burial
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Non-Domestic Structures
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Rock Art
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Settlements
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Tomb
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Water-Related
Investigation Types
Archaeological Overview
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Architectural Survey
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Collections Research
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Data Recovery / Excavation
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Methodology, Theory, or Synthesis
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Reconnaissance / Survey
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Records Search / Inventory Checking
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Research Design / Data Recovery Plan
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Site Evaluation / Testing
General
Ethnoarchaelogical
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Ethnography
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Ethnohistorical
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Historical
Geographic Keywords
Barú region
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Barú volcano
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Bay of Chiriquí
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Boquete
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Boruca
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Castilla de Oro
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Chiriquí
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Chiriquí Province
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City of David
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City of Gold
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Isthmus of Panamá
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Mesoamerica
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New World
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Pacific Ocean
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Panama
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Panamá City
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Santiago de Veraguas
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Talamanca Cordillera
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Terraba
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Tierra Firma
Temporal Keywords
1500's
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16th Century
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1700's
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18th Century
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19th Century
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Aguas Buenas Period
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Bugaba Period
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Chiriquí Phases
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Colonial Period
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columbian
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Concepción Phase
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Eighteenth century
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Late Bugaba Phase
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New World
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Nineteenth Century
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pre-Columbian
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sixteenth century
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Tropical Forest Archaic
Temporal Coverage
Calendar Date: -4600 to 1500
Radiocarbon Date: 680 to 600
Spatial Coverage
min long: -82.62; min lat: 8.124 ; max long: -81.867; max lat: 8.654 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contributor(s): Karen Holmberg
Collaborator(s): Internet Archaeology
Sponsor(s): Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
Repository(s): Museo Antropológico Reina Torres de Araúz; Boston Museum of Fine Arts; The British Museum; Musee de l'Homme; Museum of World Culture; Museum fur Volkerkunde; National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution; Peabody Museum, Harvard University; Peabody Museum, Yale University; Walters Art Museum
Prepared By(s): Brown University