{"id":101,"date":"2019-07-17T15:07:07","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T15:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/striresearch.si.edu\/archaeology-lab\/?post_type=project&p=101"},"modified":"2021-01-30T19:16:51","modified_gmt":"2021-01-30T19:16:51","slug":"sitio-drago","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/striresearch.si.edu\/archaeology-lab\/project\/sitio-drago\/","title":{"rendered":"Archaeology in Bocas del Toro"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Thomas A. Wake, Ph.D., STRI Research Associate<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\"Sitio
Map of Sitio Drago, Bocas del Toro. From Wake et al. 2004.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since 2002 the Proyect Arqueol\u00f3gico Sitio Drago, co-directed by Thomas A. Wake and Tomas E. Mendizabal, has produced findings that have changed the interpretation of past populations living on Isla Col\u00f3n and in the Bocas del Toro Archipelago.\u00a0 It is clear now that Isla Colo\u0301n was settled approximately 2,000 years ago, a thousand years earlier than previously thought. Evidence of continuous contact with the highlands on the mainland to the south over the past 2,000 years suggests that the region was also less isolated than originally assumed. The material culture recovered from Sitio Drago illustrates contact with a variety of culture areas covering much of lower Central America, including Gran Cocle\u0301 to the east, Gran Chiriqui\u0301 (Pacific) to the south, and Gran Nicoya to the northwest.<\/p>\n

The people living at Sitio Drago had a level of social organization that allowed them to actively interact with other local and regional populations. For example, there are no sources of tool stone on Isla Col\u00f3n, yet boulder mortars, rocker-manos and basaltic stone axes and projectile points are not uncommon on the island.\u00a0 The past inhabitants of Isla Col\u00f3n repeatedly organized the requisite number (50-100, if not more) of people and watercraft necessary to transport large boulders from the mainland to island hilltops. In addition to the regionally diagnostic trade ceramics, the stone and shell artifacts recovered from Sitio Drago are evocative of an active exchange network operating between Isla Colo\u0301n and different parts of the mainland, up to 400 km away. Isla Col\u00f3n and Bocas del Toro were part of a larger lower Central American trade and exchange network from at least 2,000 to 500 years ago.<\/p>\n

\"Feline
Feline metate fragments . Photo from Wake et al. 2004.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Data recovered from survey, surface collection, and limited excavation suggest that the situation changed radically in the sixteenth century CE, soon after Columbus\u2019s October 5, 1502, visit to Bocas del Toro. Material culture recovered from postcontact sites on Isla Colo\u0301n appears less technologically sophisticated and more insular. These sites are located on interior hilltops and caves, away from the coast and hidden from view. Few exotic ceramics are found, and those recovered appear less diverse and more crudely made compared to those from a century earlier.<\/p>\n

All indications suggest an early historic period collapse of the earlier far-flung network, resulting in a more isolated local population. This situation began to change in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries CE with the influx of pirates, Anglophone Afro-Caribbeans, different Indian groups, and banana plantations, ultimately producing the diverse community that is modern Bocas del Toro.<\/p>\n

\"SitioThe nearly 20 years of field work in Bocas del Toro, Panama have been tough at times but richly rewarding. Research collaborations developed with STRI and UTP Faculty (Richard Cooke, Ashley Sharpe and Aaron O\u2019Dea, to name a few, and Alexis Mojica) have blossomed and are bearing academic fruit in terms of new knowledge and interested students. The Proyecto Arqueolo\u0301gico Sitio Drago has served to educate North American university and Panamanian students about the vibrant culture of Bocas del Toro and Panama in general. Many participants have remarked on how enjoyable and eye-opening their experience in Panama turned out to be. Panamanian participants in the project have honed their professional skills and continued their careers in archaeology. Several project participants have returned to conduct further research into the archaeology of Bocas del Toro. So far, the project has produced several publications, 3 master\u2019s theses, 1 dissertation and another one on the way. We look forward to many more years of enjoyable fieldwork and research collaboration in Panama.<\/p>\n

References<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Wake, Thomas A. (No Date). A Pre-European Archaeology of Greater Bocas del Toro, Western Caribbean. In El Mar Caribe: The American Mediterranean<\/em>, edited by C. Dennett and V. Lyall, Pp. xx-xx. Frederick & Jan Mayer Center for Pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial Art, Denver Art Museum.<\/p>\n

Wake, Thomas A. 2014. Ten years in the tropics: Archaeological research and education in Bocas del Toro, Panama. Backdirt: Annual Review of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA<\/em>:82\u201393.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Dea, Aaron, Marian Lynne Shaffer, Douglas R. Doughty, Thomas A. Wake, and Felix A. Rodriguez. 2014. Evidence of size-selective evolution in the fighting conch from prehistoric subsistence harvesting. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences<\/i> 281(1782):20140159. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1098\/rspb.2014.0159<\/p>\n

Wake, Thomas A., Douglas R. Doughty, and Michael Kay. 2013. Archaeological investigations provide Late Holocene baseline ecological data for Bocas del Toro, Panama. Bulletin of Marine Science<\/em> 89(4):1015\u20131035.<\/p>\n

Wake, Thomas A., Alexis O. Mojica, Michael H. Davis, Christina J. Campbell, and Tom\u00e1s Mendiz\u00e1bal. 2012. Electrical resistivity surveying and pseudo-three-dimensional tomographic imaging at Sitio Drago, Bocas del Toro, Panama. Archaeological Prospection<\/em> 19:49\u201358. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/arp.1417<\/p>\n

Wake, Thomas A. 2006. Prehistoric Exploitation of the Swamp Palm (Raphia taedigera<\/em>:Arecacae) at Sitio Drago, Isla Col\u00f3n, Bocas del Toro, Panam\u00e1. The Caribbean<\/em> Journal of Science<\/em> 42(1):11-19.<\/p>\n

Wake, Thomas A., Jason de Leon, and Carlos Fitzgerald Bernal. 2004. Prehistoric Sitio Drago, Bocas del Toro, Panama. Antiquity<\/em> 78(300). http:\/\/www.antiquity.ac.uk\/projgall\/wake300\/<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":334,"template":"","project_type":[3],"class_list":["post-101","project","type-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","project_type-field-projects"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nArchaeology in Bocas del Toro - Archaeology Lab<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/striresearch.si.edu\/archaeology-lab\/project\/sitio-drago\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Archaeology in Bocas del Toro - Archaeology Lab\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Thomas A. 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