Pre-Columbian art at Dumbarton oaks • number 5

PRE-COLUMBIAN ART
FROM CENTRAL AMERICA
AND COLOMBIA AT
DUMBARTON OAKS
 P r e- C o l u m b i a n a rt at D u m b a rto n o a k s • n u m b e r 5

PR E-COLUM BI A N A RT from
CENTR A L A M ER ICA
and COLOM BI A
at dumbarton oaks

COLIN M C EWAN and

JOHN W. HOOPES
editors

With additional contributions by

Harriet F. beaubien • WarWiCk bray • Diana isabel CalDerón
kim Cullen Cobb • bryan r. CoCkrell • riCHarD G. Cooke
FranCisCo Corrales ulloa • ClauDia P. Díaz • James Doyle
PatriCia FernánDez esquivel • Glenn Gates • merCeDes Guinea bueno
amanDa Guzmán • ainslie Harrison • máximo Jiménez aCosta
briGitte kovaCeviCH • Julie lauFFenburGer • Carlos mayo torné
Julia mayo torné • DaviD mora-marín • Juan antonio murro
karen o’Day • miCHelle PaWliGer • Juan Pablo quintero Guzmán
antHony J. ranere • steWart D. reDWooD • sebastián rivas estraDa
Juanita sáenz samPer • silvia salGaDo González • luís a. sánCHez Herrera
niCole e. smitH-Guzmán • maría aliCia uribe villeGas

D u m b a rto n oa k s r e s e a rC H l i b r a ry a n D C o l l eC t io n | W a s H i nG to n, D.C .
© 2021 Dumbarton Oaks
Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, D.C.
All rights reserved.
Printed in China through Martin Book Management.

library oF ConGress CataloGinG-in-PubliCation Data

Names: McEwan, Colin, editor. | Hoopes, John W., editor. | Dumbarton Oaks. | Robert Woods Bliss
Collection of Pre-Columbian Art.
Title: Pre-Columbian art from Central America and Colombia at Dumbarton Oaks / Colin McEwan and
John W. Hoopes, editors ; with additional contributions by Harriet F. Beaubien [and thirty others].
Other titles: Pre-Columbian art at Dumbarton Oaks ; no. 5.
Description: Washington, D.C. : Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, [2021] | Series:
Pre-Columbian art at Dumbarton Oaks ; no. 5 | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Summary: “Catalogue of the collection of Pre-Columbian Art from Central America and Colombia
at Dumbarton Oaks. The catalogue, written by leading international scholars of Pre-Columbian art
history and archaeology, contains detailed analyses of specific works of art along with thematic essays
situating these works within the broader context of greater Central American culture”—Provided
by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020042809 | ISBN 9780884024699 (cloth)
Subjects: LCSH: Dumbarton Oaks—Catalogs. | Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian
Art—Catalogs. | Indian art—Central America—Catalogs. | Indian art—Colombia—Catalogs. |
Indians of Central America—Antiquities—Catalogs. | Indians of South America—Colombia—
Antiquities—Catalogs.
Classification: LCC F1434.2.A7 P735 2021 | DDC 975.3—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020042809

General eDitor: Colin McEwan

manaGinG eDitor: Sara Taylor
art DireCtor: Kathleen Sparkes
DesiGn anD ComPosition: Melissa Tandysh

PHotoGraPHs:
(front jacket and frontis) Pendant, PC.B.372 (Plate 102)
(back jacket) Pendant, PC.B.390 (Plate 105)
(front flap) Dipper, PC.B.422 (Plate 205)
(back flap) Pendant, PC.B.295 (Plate 85)
Photographs of catalogue objects by John Tsantes.

www.doaks.org/publications
 We dedicate this volume to the memory of
Colin McEwan
(1951–2020)
and to our spouses,
Norma Rosso and Lauren Mattleman Hoopes,
without whose constant love and support
this project could never have been completed.
 Abbreviations viii
Contributors viii
Preface and Acknowledgments ix
Colin mCeWan

Chronological Chart of Central America and Colombia xii

Map of Central America and Colombia xiv
Map of Indigenous and Community Lands in
Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia xvi
Illustrations of Manufacturing Techniques xviii

Introduction 1
JoHn W. HooPes • Colin mCeWan • bryan r. CoCkrell
The History of the Central American and Colombian Collection at Dumbarton Oaks 11
Juan antonio murro

Map of Costa Rica 28

Jadeworking 29
JoHn W. HooPes • DaviD mora-marín • briGitte kovaCeviCH
The Anthropomorphic Celtiform Pendant Theme of the Jade Tradition in Costa Rica 47
DaviD mora-marín
A Noninvasive Approach to the Study of Jade Artifacts from Central America 61
Julie lauFFenburGer • bryan r. CoCkrell • Glenn Gates
JoHn W. HooPes • briGitte kovaCeviCH • DaviD mora-marín
CATALOGUE ENTRIES FOR GREENSTONE OBJECTS FROM CENTRAL AMERICA 74

Metallurgy in Costa Rica 239

PatriCia FernánDez esquivel
Monumentality and Portability
Stone Spheres and Gold Ornaments from the Diquís Delta 249
FranCisCo Corrales ulloa
CATALOGUE ENTRIES FOR OBJECTS FROM FINCA 4 262

Map of Panama 278

Resurrecting Playa Venado, a Pre-Columbian Burial Ground in Panama 279

niCole e. smitH-Guzmán • luís a. sánCHez Herrera • riCHarD G. Cooke
WarWiCk bray • ClauDia P. Díaz • máximo Jiménez aCosta
steWart D. reDWooD • antHony J. ranere

vi
 CONTENTS

Funerary Rituals among the Elite of the Río Grande Chiefdom, Panama
Preparations for the Final Voyage of a Powerful Coclé Warrior 331
Julia mayo torné • Carlos mayo torné • merCeDes Guinea bueno
CATALOGUE ENTRIES FOR OBJECTS FROM PLAYA VENADO 362

Technological Insights into Goldworking in Pre-Columbian Panama 381

Harriet F. beaubien • kim Cullen Cobb • ainslie Harrison
CATALOGUE ENTRIES FOR METAL OBJECTS FROM GREATER CHIRIQUÍ
AND GREATER COCLÉ 392

Map of Colombia 540

Early Metalwork in Caribbean Colombia and

Southern Central America 541
WarWiCk bray • riCHarD G. Cooke • steWart D. reDWooD
Nahuange Metalwork from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta,
Northern Colombia, 100–1000 CE
Development and Relations with Neighboring Areas 569
Juanita sáenz samPer
Funerary Contexts of Herrera and Muisca Goldwork
Recent Data from Nueva Esperanza, Sabana de Bogotá, Colombia 583
Diana isabel CalDerón • sebastián rivas estraDa
CATALOGUE ENTRIES FOR OBJECTS FROM COLOMBIA 596

Appendix
Compositional Analysis of the Pre-Columbian Metal Objects
from the Dumbarton Oaks Collection 687
Harriet F. beaubien • ainslie Harrison • kim Cullen Cobb
Glossary 699
Fauna Glossary 702
riCHarD G. Cooke • bryan r. CoCkrell • amanDa Guzmán
miCHelle PaWliGer • JoHn W. HooPes
Notes on Contributors 710
References Cited 713
Visual Index 747
Index 756

vii
 ABBREVIATIONS CONTRIBUTORS

Ag silver BRC Bryan R. Cockrell

Au gold CM Colin McEwan
BCCR Museo del Oro Precolombino, Museos DMM David Mora-Marín
Banco Central de Costa Rica, San José, FCU Francisco Corrales Ulloa
Costa Rica JD James Doyle
cat. no. catalogue number JWH John W. Hoopes
cm centimeter JMT Julia Mayo Torné
Cu copper JPQG Juan Pablo Quintero Guzmán
D. depth JSS Juanita Sáenz Samper
Diam. diameter KO Karen O’Day
Fe iron MAUV María Alicia Uribe Villegas
fig. figure MGB Mercedes Guinea Bueno
g gram NESG Nicole E. Smith-Guzmán
H. height PFE Patricia Fernández Esquivel
L. length RGC Richard G. Cooke
mm millimeter SSG Silvia Salgado González
MO Museo del Oro, Banco de la República,
Bogotá
NMAI National Museum of the American
Indian, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C.
NMNH National Museum of Natural History,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
D.C.
pl. plate
PMAE Peabody Museum of Archaeology
and Ethnology, Harvard University,
Cambridge
Th. thickness
W. width
Wt. weight

viii
 PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THIs catalogue coMpletes tHe serIes devoted to
the description and study of the Pre-Columbian
Collection at Dumbarton Oaks. Preceding vol-
umes have successively covered the Andean, Olmec,
Highland Mexican, and Maya regions; the pres-
ent volume addresses greater Central America and
embraces the modern nations of Costa Rica, Panama,
and Colombia, as well as the adjacent territories
that once formed part of a broader, interrelated Pre-
Columbian world. The Pre-Columbian Collection at
Dumbarton Oaks, which was assembled by Robert
Woods Bliss between 1935 and 1962, reflects the col-
lecting mores and practices of the period. It is, first
and foremost, a collector’s collection, in the sense
that it is shaped by Bliss’s personal interests and aes-
thetic preferences. The availability of objects on the
market during the mid-twentieth century depended
on an international network of dealers who actively
sought to obtain desirable material from casual exca-
vations, often with minimal regard for provenance
and context. Nevertheless, the earlier catalogues
in this series have all highlighted the importance
that Bliss placed on research as the basis for appre-
ciating and understanding the collection. From the
outset, he established a pattern of consultation with
the acknowledged experts of the day and fostered
cross-institutional collaborations. The same spirit
informs the previous catalogues in the series, and we
have endeavored to develop and extend this mission
in the present volume.
The former directors of the Pre-Columbian Studies
program—Elizabeth Benson, Elizabeth Boone, Jeffrey
Quilter, and Joanne Pillsbury—each advanced the
publication of the collection at Dumbarton Oaks. In
January 2013, the director of Dumbarton Oaks, Jan
Ziolkowski, approved, with the enthusiastic support of
the senior fellows in Pre-Columbian Studies, the ini-
tial proposal to begin work on a comprehensive cata-
logue of Central American and Colombian objects. In
late spring 2013, James Doyle was appointed to a post-
doctoral position to support the project; his organiza-
tional acumen was instrumental in helping to lay the
groundwork for the catalogue. In fall 2013, the direc-
tor kindly granted permission for us to accept an invi-
tation from Jeffrey Quilter to attend a workshop on
Costa Rican archaeology at the Peabody Museum of
Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University.
This museum has long supported research in south-
ern Central America, and it holds some of the most
extensive collections of artifacts from this area in
the United States, including pieces from expeditions
led by Samuel K. Lothrop in 1916–1917 (402 objects)
and 1948–1949 (8,456 objects). The Pre-Columbian
Collection at Dumbarton Oaks has strong ties to the
Peabody Museum, as many of its objects came from
exchanges between the museums in the mid-twentieth
century. Lothrop brokered exchanges and purchases
of materials from ancient Central America for Robert
Woods Bliss; he also authored a collection catalogue
(Pre-Columbian Art: Robert Woods Bliss Collection)
published in 1957.
Attendance at the workshop enabled us to study
comparative materials and iconographies and to
piece together clues about the original contexts of
many objects at Dumbarton Oaks. The connec-
tions established with the scholars and staff at the
Peabody Museum, as well as with the invited schol-
ars (including Francisco Corrales Ulloa of the Museo
Nacional de Costa Rica and the Universidad de Costa
Rica, John  W. Hoopes of the University of Kansas,
and R.  Jeffrey Frost of California State University,
Stanislaus), were particularly timely and helpful in
contributing to our preparations for an object-based
workshop focused on Central America and Colombia
and held at Dumbarton Oaks on January 12–19, 2014.
Workshop participants included Richard  G. Cooke
of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in
Panama; Francisco Corrales Ulloa; John W. Hoopes;
ix
 Julia Mayo Torné of the Fundación El Caño in
Panama; David Mora-Marín of the University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill; Karen O’Day of the University
of Wisconsin, Eau Claire; Silvia Salgado González of
the Universidad de Costa Rica; María Alicia Uribe
Villegas of the Museo del Oro, Bogotá; Harriet F. “Rae”
Beaubien, Ann McMullen, and L. Antonio Curet of
the National Museum of the American Indian and the
Museum Conservation Institute; Bryan R. Cockrell
of the University of California, Berkeley; and Victoria
Lyall of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The
workshop featured roundtable discussions, presen-
tations, object viewings, and individual analysis, all
of which shaped the understanding of the collection
and the thematic direction of the present publica-
tion. Invited authors completed the first drafts of their
assigned catalogue entries, which placed the objects
in context with other museum collections and, most
importantly, with archaeological objects from secure
excavated contexts. Their work set the stage for the
synthesizing essays in the catalogue as well as the tech-
nical analyses of both stone and metal objects.
An important outcome of this initial workshop
was identifying the need to work toward an icono-
graphic concordance through photographs and draw-
ings, as well as to develop a visual, biological, and
technological glossary to guide future research on
the art and archaeology of greater Central America.
It was clear that this was going to be a demanding
undertaking, with the widely dispersed contributors
working on a tight time frame. As a result, I was hugely
encouraged by Jan Ziolkowski’s sympathetic and pos-
itive response to my request to hold a second work-
shop in Panama. In January 2015, Bryan R. Cockrell
was appointed postdoctoral fellow to support the
project. The workshop was hosted by the Smithsonian
Tropical Research Institute on January 20–24, 2015;
we sincerely thank interim director Matthew C.
Larsen and events manager Ana Matilde Ruiz Jaén
for their time, expertise, and interest. The workshop
was generously supported by matching funds from
the Wenner-Gren Foundation, which enabled us to
widen participation. Workshop participants included
Barbara Arroyo, Harriet F. “Rae” Beaubien, Warwick
Bray, Bryan R. Cockrell, Richard G. Cooke, Francisco
Corrales Ulloa, Kim Cullen Cobb, L. Antonio Curet,
James Doyle, Patricia Fernández Esquivel, Bridget
Gazzo, Alexander Geurds, Mercedes Guinea Bueno,
Ainslie Harrison, Kenneth G. Hirth, John W. Hoopes,
Rosemary Joyce, Jorge G. Marcos, Carlos Mayo
Torné, Julia Mayo Torné, Geoffrey McCafferty,
Sharisse McCafferty, Colin McEwan, Juan Antonio
Murro, Karen O’Day, José R. Oliver, Ileana Olmos,
Juan Pablo Quintero Guzmán, Stewart D. Redwood,
Reniel Rodríguez Ramos, Juanita Sáenz Samper, Silvia
x p r efac e a n d ac k nowl e dg Me nts
Salgado González, Luis A. Sánchez Herrera, Russell
Sheptak, Nawa Sugiyama, Ivonne Miranda Tapia,
and María Alicia Uribe Villegas. The scholarly inter-
actions made possible by this workshop enriched and
enhanced the present catalogue at every turn, as they
were an indispensable part of the process of building a
definitive, integrated set of essays. The select group of
international researchers assembled at the workshop
tackled new questions and reexamined key problems.
The three-day, discussion-focused meeting also did
much to chart the course ahead for future anthropo-
logical and art historical research in the region.
As work on the catalogue advanced, we counted on
the diverse talents and technical skills of many col-
leagues. Bryan R. Cockrell played an essential role
in the completion and submission of the first draft
of this and the associated volume to external review-
ers; he provided support for the workshop in Panama
as well as ongoing editorial and logistical assistance.
Up to the completion of his term in January 2017, he
provided valuable expertise, technical analysis, and
scholarly content. He served as coauthor to the intro-
duction, contributed to the essay on technical analysis
of jadeite, authored several object entries, and initi-
ated and coordinated the fauna glossary. His authorial
and behind-the-scenes contributions to the project
were substantial, invaluable, and are deeply appreci-
ated. For analytical work on some of the gold objects
at the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute,
we thank Bob Koestler, Paula DePriest, Ed Vicenzi,
Janet Douglas, Thomas Lam, and E. Keats Webb. For
analysis of a range of greenstone objects at the Walters
Art Museum, we thank Julie Lauffenburger, Glenn
Gates, Nick Barbi, and the XGLab. For faunal pho-
tography, we thank Aldo Brando (who also provided
photographs by Ricardo Arevalo and Cristobal von
Rothkirch), Diego Calderón, Miguel Ángel Sicilia,
and Armando Ruiz Boyer of the Museo Nacional
de Costa Rica (who also provided photographs by
Julio E. Sánchez, Francisco Durán, Ghisselle Alvarado
Quesada, Armando Estrada, Alfredo Cascante Marín,
and Silvia Bolaños Redondo). The compilation of the
faunal glossary was ably assisted by Amanda Guzmán,
Michelle Pawliger, and Richard G. Cooke. We count
ourselves extremely fortunate to have been able to
secure the services of John Tsantes for the object
photography; the results of his consummate skills and
patience grace the volume. We owe similar debts of
gratitude to Gene Thorp and Hillary Olcott for their
extraordinary maps and graphics. Fabrice Dubertret
and the LandMark operational team worked closely
with us in creating the map of Indigenous territories.
We commissioned Kim Cullen Cobb to create an
original set of graphics to illustrate the steps involved
in the manufacture of objects from jadeite, shell, and
gold; the results establish a new standard that we hope
will have enduring value for the field. Additional illus-
trations were provided by Reiko Ishihara-Brito and
Waka Kuboyama. We thank Cristina Flores and Julia
Paley for their assistance with translations, as well as
Adam Benfer for making available references to dif-
ficult to obtain literature from his personal files. For
a range of institutional, research, bibliographic, and
logistical support at Dumbarton Oaks, we gratefully
thank the director, senior fellows in Pre-Columbian
Studies, and colleagues, including program coordi-
nators Kelly McKenna and Adrianne Varitimidis;
library staff Daniel Boomhower, Bridget Gazzo, Sarah
Makowski, and Toni Stephens; museum staff Gudrun
Bühl, Juan Antonio Murro, Lucia Henderson, and
Colin Kelly; and summer interns Sam Vásquez and
Melba Pearson. Above all, we thank the director of
publications Kathy Sparkes and the managing edi-
tor Sara Taylor for their extraordinary skills, tireless
efforts, guidance, and support.
When the original manuscript was sent for external
peer review, the feedback served to confirm what was
already apparent—that is, the manuscript had grown so
large that attempting to accommodate it within a single
volume was neither feasible nor desirable. We thus pro-
ceeded to divide it into two volumes: the first, a a tra-
ditional object-centered catalogue; and the second, a
complementary volume with more extensive scholarly
essays. The two volumes are intended to dovetail with
each other, to more adequately reflect the scope and
content of the whole project and to serve as an endur-
ing resource for the field. I wish to pay special tribute to
my coeditor John W. Hoopes, who has accompanied
me at different stages on this “long and winding road.”
As we took the decision to divide the publication into
two volumes, his organizational acumen, acute and
insightful editing skills, and consummate knowledge
of the archaeology and material culture of Central
America and Colombia have informed the project at
every turn. John’s ongoing editorial work was made
possible in part by his appointment in Fall 2017 as visit-
ing professor and Richard E. Greenleaf Distinguished
Chair in Latin American Studies at Tulane University
and also by his sabbatical semester in Spring 2018 from
the University of Kansas. The support of both insti-
tutions in this endeavor is gratefully acknowledged.
Finally, I wish to record my appreciation to colleagues
and friends, and to successive cohorts of fellows and
visiting scholars at Dumbarton Oaks for their generous
and unstinting personal support.
Colin McEwan
Director of Pre-Columbian Studies, 2012–2019
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library
and Collection
pre face a n d ack no wl e dg Me nts xi

JoHn W. HooPes • Colin mCeWan • bryan r. CoCkrell
In puBlIsHIng tHe oBjects froM Costa RIca,
Panama, and Colombia in the Dumbarton Oaks Col-
lection, we are seeking to complete a project begun
over half a century ago (Bliss 1947, 1957). The interven­
ing decades have witnessed notable advances in the
scope, content, and production quality of collection
catalogues at Dumbarton Oaks. The catalogues of the
Andean and Mesoamerican collections provide tangi­
ble proof of this progress. By providing an innovative
juxtaposition of traditional art historical descrip­
tions with the results of materials research, each cat­
alogue has deepened and extended the range and
quality of information and interpretation. Our deci­
sion to present a catalogue of the Central American
and Colombian collections alongside a scholarly vol­
ume (Pre-Columbian Central America, Colombia, and
Ecuador: Toward an Integrated Approach) is driven by
a continued desire to make the very best use of a rare
opportunity to publish in­depth and to explore new
avenues of inquiry. In the present volume, we seek to
offer an enduring resource that synthesizes current
knowledge and attracts the next generation of scholars.
We also hope to catalyze new research by engaging
curious scholars from adjacent areas as well as from
areas farther afield. They will be among the first to rec­
ognize that our understanding of the Pre­Columbian
cultures of the Americas has long been dominated
by  the scholarly priority accorded to Mesoamerica
and the Andes. Paradoxically, what has been proposed
as the Isthmo­Colombian Area (Hoopes and Fonseca
Zamora 2003), positioned at the geographical center
of the Americas, has been often consigned to the mar­
gins of mainstream scholarship. As we shall see, past
paradigms that identified the Central American isth­
mus as a land bridge through which and into which
populations migrated from north and south have
been replaced by a multidisciplinary paradigm that
focuses on the resilience and continuity of largely
autochthonous populations who have occupied the
Introduction
territory since Paleoindian times. These populations
are characterized by independent cultural expressions
that are not simply derivative or pallid reflections of
the complex societies to the north and south. Since
the 1980s, advances in linguistics, genetics, ethno­
history, archaeology, and ethnography have made
it clear that the Isthmo­Colombian Area is, in fact, a
pivotal region for understanding the peopling of the
New World; the cultivation and domestication of use­
ful crops; the invention and improvement of ceramic,
lapidary, and metallurgic techniques; the evolution
of cosmology and ritual; and the emergence of inno­
vative strategies for organizing human societies (see
Map of Central America and Colombia).
The archaeology of southern Central America and
northern Colombia merits renewed attention, both
as an essential part of the history of the Indigenous
peoples whose descendants still occupy these territo­
ries (See Map of Indigenous and Community Lands
in Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia) and for the
ways that material evidence and artistic trajectories
challenge conventional narratives of “complexity” in
the Americas. These are issues that will be addressed
and developed in more detail in the companion vol­
ume, together with a broad introduction to the Pre­
Columbian cultures and contemporary ethnic groups
of these regions. To introduce this volume for special­
ists and nonspecialists alike, we offer a concise review
of the main archaeological terms and regions as well
as a summary of the sequence of human settlement
from earliest times to the contact period.
Standard Archaeological Concepts
Used in This Work
The majority of the contributions to this volume
adhere to the well­established tradition in American
archaeology of referring to space and time in terms
of culture history. The foundations for this governing
1
 paradigm were first laid out in Method and Theory in
American Archaeology (Willey and Phillips 1958), in
which the authors explicitly defined the spatial cat­
egories of site, locality (or district), region, subarea,
and area, along with temporal concepts such as
period and phase. That said, we have also addressed
and modified precedent where it is warranted, critiqu­
ing and abandoning Willey’s (1971) term Intermediate
Area while retaining a (somewhat guarded) use of
concepts such as Mesoamerica. Our principal aim in
the use of this terminology has been methodological
consistency and clarity, even as we anticipate that the
terminology will inevitably change to reflect shifting
theoretical paradigms.
Willey and Phillips define an area as “a geograph­
ical unit very considerably larger than a region; it
corresponds roughly to the culture area of the ethnog­
rapher. Archaeological areas, like regions, have come
into existence by common consent, but the element
of historical accident is reduced somewhat by the fact
that many individuals and institutions are likely to
have been involved in their investigation. They tend to
coincide with major physiographic divisions” (Willey
and Phillips 1958:20). One clear example of an area
is Mesoamerica. Others include the Antilles, both
Greater and Lesser, and the Amazon basin. Following
the contribution of Hoopes and Fonseca Zamora
(2003), we also include the Isthmo­Colombian Area,
although this is by no means straightforward given
discrepancies with the extent of the Intermediate
Area as originally defined. Nevertheless, the concept
of an Isthmo­Colombian Area has been found to be
useful by linguists (cf. O’Connor 2014) and ethnog­
raphers (cf. Halbmeyer 2018) as well as by archae­
ologists, notwithstanding ongoing critiques of the
theories and methods of culture history. Such con­
cepts endure when they are found to be useful heuris­
tic devices within a “community of practice” ( Joyce
2021; Wenger 1998) that includes narrow or overlap­
ping communities of archaeologists, art historians,
ethnohistorians, and other scholars.
Our use of subarea follows that of Willey and
Phillips (1958:20), who define it as a territory “of geo­
graphical extent intermediate between the region
and the area which possess[es] qualities and degrees
of cultural unity that gives [it] a definite usefulness
in archaeological or ethnological studies.” For exam­
ple, Greater Nicoya was originally defined as a subarea
of Mesoamerica (Norweb 1961), even as its status
within that area is now questioned (cf. McCafferty
and Dennett 2021). Although with an antecedent in
the Western Panama–Southern Costa Rica subarea
(Willey 1971:figs. 5–7), the Greater Chiriquí subarea
was formally defined by Haberland (1984) as a sub­
area of the Intermediate Area at a School of American
2 Ho op es • M cew a n • co ck re l l
Research Advanced Seminar held in 1980 (Lange and
Stone 1984). These were followed by the Greater Coclé
subarea (Cooke, Sánchez Herrera, and Udagawa
2000) and by Greater Zenú (Falchetti 1996) in what is
now identified as the Isthmo­Colombian Area.
Willey and Phillips define a region as “a consider­
ably larger unit of geographical space [as compared to
a locality or district] usually determined by the vaga­
ries of archaeological history. Quite often it is simply
the result of concentrated research by an individual or
group. Rightly or wrongly, such a region comes to be
thought of as having problems of its own that set it apart
from other regions. Regional terms are those most
often found in the titles of archaeological papers than
site reports. Through constant reiteration they become
fixed in the literature and achieve a kind of independent
existence” (Willey and Phillips 1958:19). We identify
the following as regions: the Rivas province in south­
western Nicaragua, Central Nicaragua, the Caribbean
Lowlands of eastern Costa Rica, the Térraba–Coto
Brus Valley (including the Diquís Delta) in southern
Costa Rica, the Sinú Valley in northern Colombia, and
the Serranía de Bogotá in Colombia.
Willey and Phillips define a locality as “a slightly
larger spatial unit [as compared to a site], varying
in size from a single site to a district of uncertain
dimensions; it is generally not larger than the space
that might be occupied by a single community or a
local group” (Willey and Phillips 1958:18). Examples
of localities (or districts) include: 1) the Finca 4 or
Finca 6 site complex or the Diquís Delta district as
a whole; 2) the occupation represented by the con­
temporaneous sites of Sitio Conte and El Caño by the
Río Grande de Coclé, as well as the related sites of
Cerro Juan Díaz and Playa Venado; and 3) the coastal
and upland sites of the Santa Marta district in north­
ern Colombia, including Nehuange, Pueblito, and
Ciudad Perdida.
Archaeological Subareas and Regions
Costa Rica (see Map of Costa Rica)
Northern Pacific (Greater Nicoya)
The Northern Pacific region of Costa Rica coin­
cides almost exactly with the boundaries of the mod­
ern province of Guanacaste. Its principal landforms
include the Santa Elena Peninsula, the Gulf of Papa­
gayo, the Nicoya Peninsula, and the Gulf of Nicoya.
The principal drainage of this region is the Tempisque
River, which enters the Gulf of Nicoya, but sev­
eral others, including the Sapoá River, flow into the
Pacific Ocean.
The term Greater Nicoya was coined by Gordon
Willey and Albert Norweb (Norweb 1961). It came
from the Nicoya Peninsula, which also gave its
name to a group of ceramic types collectively iden­
tified by Lothrop (1926) under the obsolete term
Nicoya Polychrome. Greater Nicoya designates a ter­
ritory that included western Nicaragua, south of
Managua and Lake Nicaragua, as well as the prov­
ince of Guanacaste in Costa Rica. While the western
boundary of Greater Nicoya is defined by the Pacific
Ocean, the eastern boundary is less clear. Traits
extend along the eastern shores of Lake Nicaragua,
but not in a uniform fashion. Eastern Guanacaste
is characterized by steep volcanic highlands inter­
spersed with river valleys that drain either to the
east or west; it is a transitional zone. Research in
the cordillera has revealed that parts of the region
were closely related to the Northern Pacific foot­
hills and Tempisque Valley from at least the Early
Formative period (ca. 2000 BCE) (see A Chrono­
logical Summary of Southern Central America and
Northern Colombia). But the Arenal region—sit­
uated between the Pacific and Caribbean water­
sheds—appears to have had close relations with
the east. The same may be true for other parts of the
northwestern cordillera.
Central Highlands
The Central Highlands region is roughly defined as
the territory above 500 m between the Tilarán Range
to the northwest and the Talamanca Range to the
south. It was the demographic center of Spanish set­
tlement in the sixteenth century and remains the most
densely populated part of Costa Rica. The principal
geographic feature is the Central Valley, a basin ringed
by high volcanic uplands that is drained by two princi­
pal valley systems, the Reventazón to the east and the
Poás, Virilla, and Tárcoles to the west. The volcanic
soils of the Central Highlands were extremely fertile.
They supported the tropical forests and the agricul­
tural activities of significant Pre­Columbian popula­
tions. According to both archaeological evidence and
ethnohistoric documents, the Reventazón Valley was
the most significant zone of occupation.
Caribbean Lowlands
The Caribbean Lowlands region, together with por­
tions of the Central Highlands, is a part of the “Atlantic
Watershed,” which extends to the Continental Divide.
The term Caribbean Lowlands comprises a more
restricted region, corresponding roughly to the area
drained by the Jiménez and Parismina Rivers to the
north and the Sixaola River (on the border with
Panama) to the south. In the older literature, the cen­
tral portion of the Caribbean Lowlands is referred
to as the Línea Vieja (Old Line), named for the
nineteenth­century railroad line that was established
there (Stewart 1964). In more recent literature, it has
been referred to as Suerre, after a sixteenth­century
cacique (Gutiérrez and Hurtado 1986).
Central Pacific
The Central Pacific region is located along the coast
between the Gulf of Nicoya in the north and the
Diquís Delta in the south. Its principal features include
the Tárcoles and Parrita Valleys, as well as the area of
Quepos. This region is characterized by steeply dis­
sected hills that skirt the southern foothills of the
central cordillera and by rocky coastlines alternating
with mangrove swamps and sandy beaches. In the six­
teenth century, this region was the principal conduit
between Spanish settlements on the Gulf of Nicoya
and the Central Valley. Archaeological investigations
suggest that this use followed patterns established
prior to the conquest, as evidenced by characteristic
Greater Nicoya ceramic types at the Lomas Entierros
site and by large, late period settlements at Pozo Azúl
(Corrales Ulloa and Quintanilla Jiménez 1996).
Southern Pacific (Térraba–Coto Brus
Valley and Diquís Delta, or Western
Greater Chiriquí)
The Southern Pacific region (also identified in the
literature as “southeastern” or “southwestern” Costa
Rica, or the Zona Sur) is defined as the territory
between the Pacific Ocean and the Talamanca Range.
Its principal landforms are the Osa Peninsula, the
Golfo Dulce (Sweet Gulf), the Diquís Delta (also
referred to as the Diquís Valley), the Térraba–Coto
Brus Valley (also referred to as the General Valley),
the Coto Colorado Valley, and the Burica Peninsula.
In 1959, Wolfgang Haberland coined the term Greater
Chiriquí to refer to an archaeological subarea that
extended from the Caribbean to the Pacific coast
and included most of southern Costa Rica and west­
ern Panama, especially the province of Chiriquí and
Bocas del Toro. The Southern Pacific region is located
within this designation. Its habitats range from the
wettest rain forests to the relatively dry highland
savannas of Central America.
Panama (see Map of Panama)
Western Panama (Greater Chiriquí)
The region of Western Panama, also a part of Greater
Chiriquí, corresponds roughly to the territory between
Bocas del Toro in the north and the Gulf of Chiriquí in
the south. It is divided from west to east by a high vol­
canic range, which is dominated by the Volcán Barú.
The highlands are characterized by rich volcanic soils.
Several rivers drain the highlands. The Chiriquí River
(Río Grande de Chiriquí) is the largest on the Pacific
side; the broadest area of foothills is on the sloping
land north of the Gulf of Chiriquí. The gulf, bounded
IntroductIon 3
 by the Burica Peninsula to the west, is broad and open
to the sea except in its middle section, which is punctu­
ated by a small harbor with several islands. The north­
ern (Caribbean) side of this region is dominated by
Almirante Bay, a natural harbor with many islands.
Central Panama (Greater Coclé)
Central Panama corresponds roughly with the mod­
ern provinces of Veraguas and Coclé and with the
Azuero Peninsula. It also includes the Panama Canal
Zone. The term Greater Coclé acknowledges that
Coclé culture extends beyond the borders of the
modern province of that name. Its northern coast­
line is narrow, rising quickly into an eastward exten­
sion of the volcanic highlands. The southern portion
of this region, however, is broad and relatively flat,
except for a range of hills in the western and southern
Azuero Peninsula. The peninsula itself is bounded by
the Gulf of Montijo to the west and the Parita Bay
to the east. The largest drainage in Central Panama is
the Santa María River, which originates in the high­
lands and runs roughly west to east, emptying into
Parita Bay.
Most archaeological research in Central Panama
has been concentrated around Parita Bay, on the
Azuero Peninsula, and in the valleys of the Río
Grande (Río Grande de Coclé) and Santa María
River. The bay itself is crescent shaped and ringed by
alvinas (salt flats), slow­flowing rivers, and patches
of mangrove forests. Geological data indicates that
it has been subject to gradual tectonic uplift, which
has brought ancient beaches farther inland. The caves
and rock shelters reported for the region are not lime­
stone caverns, but rather relatively small hollows in
rocky outcrops.
The Pacific slopes of Central Panama are relatively
dry in comparison to the regions to the west and east.
Vegetation consists of low forests and scrublands. The
rivers and estuaries are rich in birds, reptiles, fish, and
shellfish, thus providing diverse supportive habitats
for early human populations.
Eastern Panama
The region of Eastern Panama includes the terri­
tory around the Panama Canal and continues east­
ward into the province of Darién. Its most prominent
geographical features are the low­lying lakes and
swamps through which the canal was constructed,
a small range of hills drained by the Chagres River,
the broad Bay of Panama, and the rolling hills of
Darién. The largest lake in Eastern Panama is Lake
Madden. The principal drainage is the Bayano River,
which flows westward from the northeastern corner
of Darién and empties into the Pacific Ocean in the
Bay of Panama. The northern (Caribbean) coastline
4 Ho op es • M cew a n • co ck re l l
of Eastern Panama is characterized by a large number
of small inlets and bays marked by mangrove forests
and beaches.
Colombia (see Map of Colombia)
Colombia possesses a complex geography with many
significant zones. These can be described generally as
the Pacific coast of the Chocó, the two principal river
valleys of the Cauca and the Magdalena (which divide
the Western, Central, and Eastern Cordilleras), the
northern Caribbean Plains, the massif of the Sierra
Nevada de Santa Marta, the Guajira Peninsula, and
the broad expanse of upper Amazonia. Of these, the
Chocó and the Guajira Peninsula are not represented
in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection.
Caribbean Coast
The northern Colombian coast, from west to east
along the Caribbean, embraces the Gulf of Urabá,
broad river deltas (such as the Sinú), shallow bays, and
ultimately the rocky embayments of Santa Marta. This
coastline represented the greatest geographic conti­
nuity with Central America, with the Gulf of Urabá
undoubtedly serving as a node of communication and
transport with regions to the east and west. Its many
estuaries, inlets, bays, and coastal islands remain to be
carefully explored from an archaeological perspective
and may prove to be rich sources of information about
interaction within the Caribbean basin.
The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and its nearby
coastal embayments represented one of the most
unique habitats in the region. This territory stretched
from small bays, such as Nehuange, into plateaus
(páramos) and snowcapped peaks, flanked by valleys
that were home to substantial Tairona populations.
Cauca and Magdalena Valleys
Colombia is characterized by long, mostly south­to­
north drainage systems that originated in the high
Andes and flowed into either the Caribbean Sea or
the Atlantic Ocean via tributaries to the Amazon
River. Of the northward­flowing rivers, the Cauca
and the Magdalena were significant routes of popula­
tion expansion and communication. The Cauca River,
originating in the southern highlands, flowed through
a broad valley where the modern cities of Calí and
Medellín are located. It is a fertile landscape, which
supported some of the largest Indigenous populations.
The Magdalena River, also originating in the southern
highlands, joined the lower San Jorge River to form a
broad expanse of wetlands, the Mompos Depression,
which was modified over centuries into one of the
world’s most extensive systems of raised­field agricul­
ture. The valley of the Sinú River, known as the Zenú,
is another major locus of Indigenous activity.
Serranía de Bogotá
The most populous region of Colombia, as is still true
today, was the highland region around Bogotá. The
cooler temperatures, combined with the high rainfall
and fertile soils, allowed this region to support quite
dense Indigenous populations, notably the Muisca.
Successive Spanish and German explorers ventured
into this region in search of the legendary city of
El Dorado, a place that eventually came to represent
wishful thinking and futile expeditions while at the
same time fueling interest in Colombian goldwork.
A Chronological Summary of
Southern Central America and
Northern Colombia
The chronology of this territory is complex and,
although we are mindful of the critiques of culture
history ( Joyce 2021), best summarized visually—that
is, as time lines of principal archaeological stages and
periods that represent reasonable approximations
of current yet ever­shifting knowledge. We provide
chronologies for Greater Coclé, the Central Highlands
and Caribbean Lowlands of Costa Rica, Greater
Nicoya, Greater Chiriquí, and Colombia. Each rep­
resents a broad synthesis of innumerable local cultural
phases, dated as best as may be accomplished using
combinations of relative and absolute dates, the latter
consisting primarily of radiocarbon assays from spe­
cific archaeological contexts. The patterns that emerge
from these dates represent a history of compara­
tive analysis as well as the struggles to evaluate local
sequences independent of bias resulting from better­
known regions. Among the observations made by
Willey (1959) in an early synthesis of what he, follow­
ing Haberland (1957), described as the Intermediate
Area were that this territory lacked broad cultural
horizons and “great styles,” such as Olmec and
Chavín. Whether this is the case, and whether the
concepts of cultures, styles, horizons, and traditions
are useful heuristic devices, merits careful critical
analysis ( Joyce 2021). Studies of culture areas such
as Mesoamerica and the central Andes have bene­
fited from area­wide chronologies, but these have not
been easy to establish for southern Central America
and northern Colombia, in part due to a dearth of
research that has considered this part of the Americas
as a whole. The temporal divisions used below, there­
fore, are general, provisional, and subject to critique
and even rejection. They represent modifications to
the provisional period designations suggested at the
School of American Research Advanced Seminar in
1980, which have themselves been heavily critiqued
and adjusted in the face of new evidence: Period I
(13000–8000 BCE), Period IIa (8000–4000 BCE),
Period IIb (4000–2000 BCE), Period IIIa (2000–
1000 BCE), Period IIIb (1000 BCE–300 CE), Period IV
(300–700 CE), Period Va (700–1000 CE), and
Period Vb (1000–1550 CE) (Lange and Stone 1984).
Authors in the catalogue were free to use their pre­
ferred chronological designations and none chose to
use this terminology. However, a general chronologi­
cal framework is necessary and this periodization pro­
vides that for the purposes of this introduction.
Period I: Paleoindian Period
(13000–8000 BCE)
The arrival of the first humans in southern Central
America and northern Colombia is likely to have
begun around 13000 BCE, as inferred from the dating
of the earliest occupation of Monte Verde, Chile, as
well as from a growing number of other sites across
the Americas (Cooke 2005, 2021; Dillehay 2000,
2009). Paleoenvironmental data point to the initial
impact of a human presence in Panama by 9000 BCE
(Piperno 2009). The earliest artifacts may date to a
thousand years later and consist of fluted lanceolate
points, similar to either the Clovis points of North
America or the Magellan “fishtail” points of South
America (Pearson 2002, 2017). To date, none of these
artifacts have been found in direct association with
extinct Pleistocene fauna or with material that could
be radiocarbon dated. There is a general similarity
among the types of fluted points that have been found
in the territory between Guatemala and Panama.
Southern Central America
The most useful archaeological evidence for under­
standing Period I in southern Central America comes
from Costa Rica and Panama. In Costa Rica, archae­
ologists have reported fluted points from Guanacaste,
the Reventazón Valley, and the Sarapiquí Valley.
Fluted points from Guanacaste come from an unpro­
venienced collection (Swauger and Mayer­Oakes
1952) and from the shore of Lake Arenal (Sheets
1994), while fluted points from the Reventazón Valley
are from controlled surface collections at the site of
Finca Guardiria (Castillo Campos et al. 1987; Pearson
2004; Snarskis 1977; Valerio 2004, 2014). Both Clovis
and Magellan “fishtail” points were found together
at Finca Guardiria, along with a large assemblage of
preforms and flaked stone debitage near raw mate­
rial sources. In Panama, fluted points are known from
the sites of Vampiros 1, La Mula­Sarigua, and Nieto
(Cooke 2021; Pearson and Cooke 2007).
Northern Colombia
The Paleoindian period in northern Colombia
(Cooke 2021) is characterized by a radiocarbon­dated
yet questionable pre­Clovis site (Pubenza), a single
IntroductIon 5
 mastodon butchering site (Tibitó), and a wide vari­
ety of diverse lithic assemblages, including unifa­
cial industries that lack bifacially flaked projectile
points in both lowland and highland zones (Correal
Urrego and Van der Hammen 1977; Correal Urrego,
Van der Hammen, and Hurt 1977). Fluted points are
rare, with no reports of the fine, Clovis­style bifacial
points recorded in Costa Rica and Panama. Also rare
are the fishtail points that have a wide distribution in
South America. What was found was the Restrepo
point, a long bifacial projectile point with a narrow
fluted tang, from sites such as La Elvira. However, at
the Pleistocene­Holocene transition (ca. 8000 BCE),
sites such as San Isidro in the Pubenza Valley have evi­
dence for lanceolate bifaces without the characteristic
Paleoindian fluting in association with the remains of
undomesticated varieties of what later became major
domesticated food plants (Aceituno and Rojas­Mora
2015; Gnecco 1994; Morrow and Gnecco 2008).
Period IIa: Early Archaic Period
(8000–4000 BCE)
The Early Archaic period began after the disappear­
ance of Pleistocene fauna and with the onset of a
Holocene climatic regime around 8000 BCE. The
most complete information for this period comes
from Western and Central Panama. Rock shelters in
Chiriquí province have provided evidence of Archaic
populations who were making ground stone tools
and consuming wild or semidomesticated root crops
as early as 7000 BCE (Cooke 2005; Cooke and Ranere
1992b; Piperno 1994, 2009; Piperno et al. 2000). In the
Parita Bay area, evidence for Archaic cultures comes
from coastal shell middens, such as Cerro Mangote
(McGimsey 1956), and inland rock shelters, such
as Aguadulce, Cueva de los Vampiros, and Carabalí
(Cooke 2005, 2021; Cooke and Ranere 1992b). The
exploitation of maritime resources by offshore fish­
ing and shellfish collecting from estuarine habitats
was particularly important. The high quality of paleo­
ecological data, along with the early dates for habitat
modification and the processing of food plants, has
made the Isthmo­Colombian Area especially signifi­
cant for understanding the emergence of horticulture
plant domestication in the Americas. It is still unclear
when the first cultivation of plants took place here,
but paleoenvironmental data indicates that humans
had been substantially modifying their environments
with fire as early as 9000 BCE (Piperno 1994, 2006,
2009, 2011a, 2011b). Lake sediment cores from Central
Panama containing charcoal and grass pollen indicate
forest clearing that resulted in the expansion of hab­
itats amenable to the plants and animals consumed
by early human populations (Piperno 2009, 2011a,
2011b). This was accompanied by the appearance of
6 Ho op es • M cew a n • co ck re l l
ground stone implements for processing plant foods,
whose residues indicate the specific plants that were
used as food. Starch­grain analysis from ground stone
implements indicates that root crops, such as arrow­
root (Maranta arundinacea), domesticated manioc
(Manihot esculenta), and yams (Dioscorea sp.), were
cultivated along with maize (Zea mays) at Aguadulce
in Central Panama as early as 6000 BCE (Isendahl
2011; Piperno et al. 2000). However, the identifi­
cation of maize in Colombia and Ecuador before
6000 BCE (Pagán­Jiménez et al. 2016), in Trinidad in
5800 BCE, and in French Guiana in 4000 BCE (Pagán­
Jiménez et al. 2015) suggests that the dispersal of the
plant may have occurred much earlier than previously
thought. Despite its early presence, the importance of
maize relative to other agricultural products remains
unknown.
Archaeological research on Period IIa sites in
Costa Rica and Colombia is not yet as detailed,
but it also demonstrates how essential the record
of the Isthmo­Colombian Area is for understand­
ing phenomena such as the emergence of agriculture
and ceramic technology. In Costa Rica, archaeolo­
gists identified Early Archaic–period artifacts in the
Reventazón Valley (Acuña 1983, 2002) and near Lake
Arenal (Sheets 1994) in contexts dating to 4000 BCE.
In Colombia, Early Archaic–period sites are known
on the coast and at rock shelters in the highlands.
The earliest current evidence for domesticated maize
in Colombia dates between 6000 and 4000  BCE
(Grobman et al. 2012; Piperno 2011b), but its adop­
tion was gradual and variable. One of the most well­
documented sites from this period is San Jacinto 1,
where seasonal occupations of fishers and foragers
produced some of the earliest ceramics beginning
around 4600 BCE. The ceramics from San Jacinto 1
(Oyuela 1995; Oyuela and Bonzani 2005) are not only
the earliest in Colombia but also among the earliest in
the Americas. They are characterized by large jars used
for steaming or baking, many of them decorated with
plastic techniques such as modeling and punctation.
The pottery was found on a seasonally occupied sand­
bar, hinting at the variable relationship between seden­
tism, food production, and ceramic production.
Periods IIb–IIIa: Late Archaic Period
(4000–2000 BCE) and Early Formative
Period (2000–1000 BCE)
The Late Archaic period is characterized by the per­
sistence of fishing and foraging lifeways, a greater
use of cultivated and domesticated plants, and an
increased sedentism, along with their related technol­
ogies, such as more elaborate ground stone tools and
early pottery. Although the Early Formative period
is most commonly associated with the presence of
ceramic technology, it is probably best understood as
the emergence of patterns of year­round settlement
and increasing reliance on agricultural subsistence.
The aforementioned ceramics from San Jacinto 1
were followed by Early Formative pottery at Monsú,
Puerto Hormiga, and Puerto Chacho, all dating
to 3500–2500 BCE (Oyuela 1995; Rodríguez 1995).
The earliest pottery in southern Central America is
the Monagrillo complex of Central Panama, which
appears at both inland and coastal sites between
3000 and 2500 BCE (Cooke 1995, 2021; Iizuka 2013,
2017; Iizuka et al. 2014; Willey and McGimsey 1954).
In Costa Rica, the earliest pottery is the Tronadora
complex, which appears at sites around Lake Arenal
in eastern Guanacaste as early as 2000 BCE (Hoopes
1985a, 1987, 1994b). Other pre­1000 BCE pottery com­
plexes in Costa Rica include La Montaña (Snarskis
1978, 1984) from the Central Highlands and Curré
(Corrales Ulloa 1985, 1989, 2000) from the Térraba–
Coto Brus Valley.
The emergence of Early Formative–period adap­
tations throughout the region was varied and com­
plex (cf. Hoopes 1992). Macrobotanical remains
of maize in Costa Rica, which are dated as early as
1800 BCE, were associated with the floors of simple,
circular domestic structures (Bradley 1994; Hoopes
1987, 1994b). Archaeologists have reported ceramic
griddles (budares) and stone artifacts interpreted as
manioc grater chips from sites dating to 1000 BCE
(Corrales Ulloa 2000).
Period IIIb (1000 BCE–300 CE)
The emergence of complex societies, probably orga­
nized around specific lineages or high­status individ­
uals, is marked by the appearance of elite goods, such
as locally made objects of carved jade or luxury items
imported from Mesoamerica. While Olmec­style
jades have been reportedly found at sites in Costa
Rica, there is little evidence to indicate that they were
either fabricated by locals affiliated with the Olmec
or carried south by the Olmec themselves (Doyle,
Hoopes, and Mora­Marín 2021; Mora­Marín, this
volume; Pohorilenko 1981). In Costa Rica, differential
wealth and social status is indicated by the presence
of jadeite objects, elaborately decorated ceramics, and
special mortuary contexts. The end of Period IIIb is
defined by the appearance of complex symbol sys­
tems associated with the emergence of rank and sta­
tus. The current evidence for such systems includes
the earliest jadeite pendant, found in a specially pre­
pared burial at La Regla on the Gulf of Nicoya and
dated between 700 and 500 BCE (Guerrero Miranda,
Solís, and Solano 1992), and the simultaneous appear­
ance of bichrome ceramics with complex iconog­
raphy at Manzanillo, on the coast of Guanacaste
(Sánchez Herrera 2015). Period IIIb pottery from
Greater Nicoya includes elegant incised bichrome
jars that were likely reserved for use on special
occasions. In Panama, craft specialization, regional
exchange, and the differential treatment of the dead
is evident at sites such as La Mula­Sarigua by 100 BCE
(Hansell 1987). In Colombia, the earliest gold metal­
lurgy dates to the first centuries BCE, with significant
production in the Tumaco and Colima regions at this
time (Cardale de Schrimpff 2005a).
The first centuries CE were a time of rapid social
change throughout southern Central America and
northern Colombia. In Costa Rica, Panama, and
Colombia, monumental sculpture, elaborate pot­
tery vessels, and gold metallurgy signal differentia­
tions in social roles and status, perhaps associated
with the appearance of centralized decision­making
(Hoopes 1996). Linares and Ranere (1980) have sug­
gested that the first centuries CE were characterized
by an “adaptive radiation” of populations in Western
Panama, from the volcanic highlands to the foothills
and coasts, as maize agriculture became more pro­
ductive. Surpluses generated by more efficient food
production supported the emergence of political
elites, the centralization of authority, and the produc­
tion of material culture that reflected distinctions in
status through higher levels of craftmanship and con­
sumption (Cooke 2021).
Period IV (300–700 CE)
Period IV is characterized by the creation of sophis­
ticated body ornaments using techniques of gold
metallurgy, the construction of mortuary features,
and the development of diverse regional pottery tra­
ditions throughout southern Central America and
northern Colombia (Bray, Cooke, and Redwood, this
volume; Cooke 2005; Hoopes 2005; Sáenz Samper,
this volume). In Central Panama, the existence of
ascribed status, interpreted as evidence for differen­
tially ranked families or clans, is indicated by elabo­
rate gold ornaments, including ones associated with
child burials at Playa Venado (Lothrop 1956; Smith­
Guzmán et al., this volume). Notably, Period  IV
saw the Greater Coclé Semiotic Tradition emerge
in ceramic decoration. In northern Colombia, early
evidence for social ranking appears in the context of
well­provisioned tombs with iconographically sig­
nificant greenstone, gold metallurgy, and ceramics at
Nahuange in the Santa Marta region (Sáenz Samper,
this volume) and the masterful goldwork produced in
the Cauca and Sinú Valleys.
Archaeological surveys along the Pacific slopes
(and in the volcanic highlands of northwestern
Costa Rica) have revealed settlements with broad,
low mounds of cobbles or boulders to cover multiple
IntroductIon 7
 interments, which often included offerings of jade
beads, pendants, and carved metates. Extensive cem­
eteries, such as those at Las Huacas (Hartman 1907b)
and La Fortuna (Stone and Balser 1965), reflect the
widespread use of jade and ceramics as status mark­
ers. In the Caribbean Lowlands of Costa Rica, people
built “corridor tombs” of large river cobbles (Snarskis
1978). The earliest appearance of large structures
on low circular platforms made of river cobbles and
packed earth dates to Period IV in the Caribbean
Lowlands and Central Highlands of Costa Rica. In
southern Costa Rica, the manufacture of monu­
mental stone spheres begins sometime after 200 CE
(Corrales Ulloa, this volume; Fernández Esquivel
and Quintanilla Jiménez 2003; Hoopes 1996), a likely
result of incipient political integration. Period IV also
saw the erection of monumental anthropomorphic
sculptures at Barriles in the Volcán Barú region of
Western Panama (Palumbo 2009; Stirling 1950).
One of the salient characteristics of the period is
the increased contact between the cultures of south­
ern Central America and Mesoamerica. The principal
sources for jade were located on the Motagua River
in southern Guatemala, well within Maya territory
(Harlow 1993). Jadeite belt plaques from royal Maya
costumes, as well as carved slate disks with Maya
hieroglyphic inscriptions and Teotihuacan designs
from the Early Classic period (200–600 CE), have
been reported from Costa Rica, and there are sugges­
tions that the first tumbaga ornaments from Costa
Rica or Panama reached the Maya Lowlands in the
sixth century CE (Doyle, Hoopes, and Mora­Marín
2021). In the upper Magdalena Valley of Colombia,
this period saw the erection of monumental tombs
associated with the expressive monoliths of San
Agustín. Population density increased in the lowland
Sinú River Valley, the San Jorge River Valley, and the
Mompos Depression, supported by the creation of
vast systems of raised and drained fields, and associ­
ated with the emergence of social hierarchies and sig­
nificant metallurgical production. The Gulf of Urabá
appears to have become a significant port­of­trade at
this time, with metal objects produced there being
transported northward to Costa Rica and perhaps
even to the Maya area.
Period Va (700–1000 CE) and Period Vb
(1000–1550 CE)
The decline of the Teotihuacan civilization and other
political changes in Central Mexico in the eighth cen­
tury CE had repercussions that were felt far to the
south. After 700 CE, there was a period of consolida­
tion and elaboration for the complex, ranked societ­
ies of Costa Rica and Panama. There is much more
information for these periods than the preceding
8 Ho op es • M cew a n • co ck re l l
ones, due not only to the increase in populations
throughout the region but also to the greater invest­
ment of energy in characteristic artifacts and features.
In Costa Rica, gold replaced jadeite as the elite mate­
rial of choice. Throughout Greater Nicoya, the earlier
bichrome pottery gave way to bold, striking poly­
chrome ceramic styles, which increased in quality and
variety after 800 CE, perhaps as a result of a syncretism
of local technological expertise with the rich iconog­
raphies imported by peoples from the north.
The most compelling evidence for a marked dif­
ferentiation in social status at this time comes from
Central Panama, where Coclé sites, such as Sitio
Conte and El Caño, are characterized by burials rich
in finely crafted gold ornaments and associated poly­
chrome vessels with a highly stylized iconography.
During Period Va, classic Coclé culture flourished
at Sitio Conte and El Caño. There is ample evidence
for both ascribed and achieved social status in the
context of societies that were engaged in militarism,
warfare, and sacrifice, along with the creation of spe­
cialized necropolises that became focal points of rit­
ual activity (Erickson and Fenton 2021; Fenton 2021;
Mayo Torné, Mayo Torné, and Guinea Bueno, this
volume; Mayo Torné et al. 2021; O’Day 2021).
The last centuries of Period Va are characterized
by significant changes resulting from both direct and
indirect contact with cultures to the north. Certain
populations of Otomanguean and Uto­Aztecan
groups in Chiapas and western Mexico, respectively,
were compelled to migrate southward through
the highlands of El Salvador and along the Pacific
coast as far south as Guanacaste (Fowler 1989).
The Chorotega, Pipil, Nicarao, and Subtiaba peo­
ples became integrated into the general culture of
southern Central America, retaining Mesoamerican
traits while adopting many Central American ones.
It is also at this time that contact between artisans
from Central America and the Maya of the north­
ern Yucatan resulted in the adoption of gold disk
production at Chichen Itza (Miller 2021). Period Va
and to a greater extent Period Vb are characterized
by the appearance of complex settlements with ele­
vated circular stone foundations in Costa Rica and
northern Colombia that grow in size over a period of
centuries. Period Vb is characterized by the expan­
sion of complex Indigenous societies, many orga­
nized as chiefdoms, prior to the sixteenth­century
arrival of the Europeans. Nahuatl speakers from
Central Mexico continued to migrate southward in
this period, settling along the Pacific watershed as far
south as Costa Rica.
In Costa Rica, Period Va was characterized by an
even greater consolidation of population and political
power into specific settlements, including Guayabo
de Turrialba (Fonseca Zamora 1981), Las Mercedes
(Gutiérrez and Hurtado 1986), Cubujuquí (Gutiérrez
and Mora Sierra 1988), Pozo Azúl (Corrales Ulloa
and Quintanilla Jiménez 1996), Rivas (Quilter 2004),
Cutrís (Vázquez Leiva, Guerrero Miranda, and
Seanchez Herrera 2003), Nuevo Corinto (Salgado
González et al. 2015), and Agua Caliente (Petrequín
Gómez 2009; Valerio Lobo 1989; Vázquez Leiva
1982). These sites reveal the remains of large, circu­
lar, and perishable structures built on the foundations
of river cobbles or boulders, and arranged in associa­
tion with open plazas that were sometimes paved with  As we turn to consider the objects in the Dumbarton
cobbles. Many have roads (calzadas), also  paved
with cobbles, that ran for several kilometers.
Cemeteries at these sites have numerous “stone­cist”
tombs, which were constructed in the form of rectan­
gular or oval boxes made of rounded cobbles or stone
slabs and capped with flagstones (lajas). Evidence
for social hierarchies is suggested by elaborate cere­
monial metates, anthropomorphic stone sculptures,
and the widespread manufacture and use of gold
ornaments. In Greater Nicoya, populations appear
to have remained dispersed in smaller settlements,
as no major ceremonial or political centers have
been found. In Greater Chiriquí, there were several
significant population centers, among them Finca 4
(Corrales Ulloa, this volume) and Rivas (Frost 2021).
Among the processes evident in the archaeolog­
ical record of this subarea is the transport of fancy,
white­slipped polychrome ceramics manufactured in
Pacific Nicaragua into parts of northwestern Costa
Rica, where they were copied by local artisans (Day
1984, 1994; Lange and Bishop 1988; McCafferty and
Dennett 2021).
In northern Colombia, the period was charac­
terized by the rise of organized polities and perhaps
regional confederations. The Tairona of the Sierra
Nevada de Santa Marta, the Muisca of the Serranía
de Bogotá (Calderón and Rivas Estrada, this vol­
ume; Uribe Villegas, Martinón­Torres, and Quintero
Guzmán 2021), and the Zenú of the northern low­
lands of the Sinú Valley (Falchetti 1995), at the cen­
ter of a region referred to as Greater Zenú (Falchetti
1996), were the largest societies at the time of
Spanish contact. All were characterized by substan­
tial settlements ruled by paramount chiefs that likely
engaged in interregional contact and exchanged val­
ued exotic materials.
The end of the Pre­Columbian era is defined by
the arrival of the Europeans, the significant decline of
Indigenous populations due to warfare and disease,
and the radical transformation of traditional com­
munities in the face of conquest and colonization.
But the descendants of Indigenous peoples survive
throughout Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia,
both as individuals and communities who have
retained their Indigenous languages and identities
and as descendant communities who are linked to
the ancient peoples of the Isthmo­Colombian Area
through genetic, historic, and personal ties to the
landscapes upon which they thrived.
New Approaches, New Directions
Oaks Collection, we recognize that they arrived
at Dumbarton Oaks as a consequence of complex
chains of manufacture and use, deposition and recov­
ery, and ultimately international export. In order to
establish the context of these materials within per­
sonal, economic, historical, and intellectual trends,
we include essays that address the specific history
of the acquision of the collection and offer an intel­
lectual history and “genealogy” of the scholarly con­
sideration of material and the cultures that created it
(Hoopes and Salgado González 2021).
A primary goal of this catalogue has been to cre­
ate a new scholarly resource in the context of past and
ongoing investigations of comparable objects with
more completely documented archaeological con­
texts and associations. By using this methodology, we
hope to facilitate additional insights into their fabrica­
tion and use. For example, we have produced detailed
reconstructions based upon materials excavated at
Nahuange by J. Alden Mason in the 1920s and at Sitio
Conte and Playa Venado by Samuel K. Lothrop and
Mason in the 1930s and 1940s. We have also consid­
ered the results of recent and ongoing excavations at
sites such as Finca 4, Finca 6, and Batambal (Corrales
Ulloa, this volume), El Caño (Mayo Torné, Mayo
Torné, and Guinea Bueno, this volume), and Nueva
Esperanza (Calderón and Rivas Estrada, this vol­
ume). We have augmented this understanding with
scientific evaluations of jadeite production and gold
metallurgy, and have provided explicit descriptions of
the specific techniques and strategies used by ancient
Indigenous artisans for working jadeite, metal, and
shell. The technical analyses are complemented by a
multidisciplinary consideration of iconographies in
both the essays and object descriptions. As this cata­
logue takes its place alongside the earlier volumes on
the Pre­Columbian Collection at Dumbarton Oaks,
we trust that it will both honor a long­standing obliga­
tion to complete the catalogue series and open a new
chapter in the art and archaeology of Central America
and Colombia.
IntroductIon 9