Panama’s Forgotten Civilizations

Traveling through Panama today, you can imagine how many different societies had to come together to create its current melting-pot of culture and people. Between 500 and 800 CE, the region was already home to many cultural groups, most of them skilled artisans. They were not yet empires, but their own societies with social and political systems, arts, and trades. In central Panama, the Coclé communities are still known today for creating some of the best goldwork in the Americas using complex alloys.

Their ceramic works depict birds, cats, and human‑animal figures tied to ritualistic and spiritual figures. West of them, the Veraguas region developed metalworking traditions using tumbaga- a native gold‑copper alloy. Their metal works spread along the Pacific coasts with their participation in sea trade, their communities found near bays and rivers that connected the inlands of Panama to coastal trade routes. Further West, the Chiriquí communities were advancing in agriculture during this period, especially in the Panamanian highlands where the rich volcanic soil supported farming.

Chiriquí is known for their carved stone tools, metates, and ceramic traditions which differed from Coclé’s- stylistically more intricate and geometric and less polychrome. The region also shares cultural traits with nearby Costa Rica, including a tradition of carved stone spheres- a feature of their cultural identity whose true use and meaning is still speculated. Together these societies made Panama a place of trade and mixing culture even 1,500 years ago. 

Much of what we know about these communities comes from what was discovered in archaeological sites around Panama. In central Panama, excavations around Sitio Conte- an ancient necropolis near the Rio Grande- uncovered Coclé burials that were filled with gold ornaments, ceramics, bone tools, and shell jewelry. They indicated an existing social ranking, as some were buried with many objects, and others only a few. The materials found also revealed connections from other places- jade originating from Guatemala, obsidian from somewhere North, and gold styles likened to Colombia. At sites in Chiriquí and by the Costa Rica border, archaeologists found agricultural tools, grinding stones, and domestic ceramics that revealed scopes into everyday life of the farming people.

The carved stone spheres, found in both Costa Rica and parts of Western Panama, are a mystery but might suggest that these societies shared similar social systems, classes, or religion. Across Mesoamerica, the appearances and construction of stelae- which are stone monuments made by many ancient cultures to mark important places or record significant events- is common and you can still see them in local museums such as Panama’s Museo de Historia or Museo Antropológico Reina Torres de Araúz and at archaeological sites near the highlands. They’re a rare chance to stand in front of an artifact carved over a thousand years ago and witness what these societies produced, and how they connected to the world around them.

The discoveries at Sitio Conte led archaeologists to recognize similar patterns at El Caño, another Coclé cemetery which is still visible today. At El Caño, monolithic standing stones, circular burial mounds, and copiously gold-adorned graves match the mortuary practices of Sitio Conte. Here travelers have an opportunity to visit the site instead of museum collections, and see some of the most intriguing artifacts from around the same time the ancient Mayan civilization was at its peak. Apart from the abundance of gold, many of the carved artifacts that were recovered from tombs resemble crocodiles and animalistic half-human mythological creatures- a few likened to early interpretations of vampires and werewolves. 

West of the Coclé, the land rises into the Chiriquí highlands, where the Barriles, located on the Southern slope of Volcán Barú show a side of Panama that contrasts life at lower altitude. Excavations at Barriles are on the volcanic terrain, which the ancient communities utilized for agriculture and people today travel to for the health benefits tied to volcanic magnetism. Archaeologists working at Barriles documented terraced hillsides, large basalt metates, and geometrically designed domestic ceramics, favoring economic priorities and life farming on volcanic slopes.

Aside from incredible-quality coffee due to the volcanic soil, Barriles is best known for its stone sculpture, distinctive in Southern Central America. Archaeologists documented a group of 14 basalt statues consisting of ten standing figures and four paired ‘rider’ figures, with an ornamented figure standing atop another in a totem stance. Much of the site is preserved on private land by local families responsible for the property. 

From its ceremonial centers to highland farming settlements, the archaeological sites of Panama are opportunities to experience the past that remains of Panama’s ancient civilizations and diverse natural landscapes from mountains, valleys, and coasts, and see how the stories of its ancient peoples have created the country’s identity.