Finca Cornejo (NA-13), test excavations, 1971
- Folder Type:
- Archaeology Site
- Primary Title:
- Finca Cornejo (NA-13), test excavations, 1971
- Alternate Title: Abbreviation
- NA-13, Nata, Cocle, Panama
- Summary Description:
- Finca Cornejo (NA-13) is a small terminal Precolumbian and/or sixteenth century CE site located on the western bank of the Rio Chico, in southern Cocle Province, Panama, about 145 m south of the river at that time, and about 4 km west of the Carretera Intermericana as it passes through the town of Nata. Its UTM coordinates are: 548800E-919800N. It was located by Richard Cooke on a foot survey conducted as part of his PhD field work. (See Cooke, R.G., 1972, Archaeology of the western Cocle province of Panama, Institute of Archaeology, London, unpublished PhD thesis). Cooke recorded the site on a low plateau above the Chico river, out of range of annual flood waters at that time. (The opposite bank of the river is considerably lower and takes the brunt of the flow). The field in which the site was located was under a dense cover of panicoid grasses in 1970-71. The principal feature was a low (18 x 8 x 0.4 m) ovaloid mound with tightly packed sherds in great numbers, as well as occasional large shell (Anadara grandis [mangrove cockle]). Cooke did not ascertain the total extent of the site adducing heavy grass cover. Two test cuts were opened on March 8th and 9th., 1971, with Basilio, Ortega and Manuel Saavedra, residents of Aguadulce: Pit A, a 2 x 2 ms. square, was laid down 17 ms east of the boundary fence between the properties of Sr. 'Changue' Cornejo and Sr. Sebastian Mendez, and 12 m north-west of the mound. It progressed by arbitrary levels of 10 cm until -43 om when cultural material -- restricted to a dark brown humic layer-- terminated abruptly at only 25 cm on top of a basal reddish clay. Glass and porcelain was present to at least 15 cm and probably refer to a simple dwelling built in about 1940 CE. The basal clay was breached for 30 cm, but the characteristic black and white flecking indicated sterility, and the pit was closed. Pit B (6.80 m N-S by 1.50 m E-W) was arranged perpendicular to the narrow axis of the low mound. Sherds were so densely concentrated that there was barely any soil. They were piled up on top of each other in a topsy-turvy fashion, and attained a height of ca 0.4 m at the deepest point of the mound. No stratigraphic divisions were apparent. Most of the sherds were very large, and two almost complete pots were found. The contents of one of the pots was floated, and found to contain the remains of fish, turtle carapace, carbonized maize, and a carbonized seed later identified by Hugh Cutler as "probably cotton". There were so many sherds in the mound that taking a total sample would have comprised severe storage space restrictions in Cooke's rented house in Aguadulce. Therefore sherds were picked up randomly as the excavation proceeded. Chronology derived from pottery typology (data from Cooke, thesis, 1972, with additional comments by RGC) 2920 sherds were classified by Cooke (1972). Twenty-one sherds of Mendoza Polychrome were recovered (1.2% of the total sherd sample in Pit A and 0.4% in Pit B.). A few eroded sherds of the earlier Macaracas polychrome varieties indicate an earlier occupation. Out of 748 non-polychrome rims from both pits, 671 were assigned by Cooke to 'Cortezo Red-Buff', four to 'Applique Red-Buff', 57 to 'Mendoza Red' and three to 'Ola Ware', a post-contact Hispano-Indigenous ware. No Guacimo Red-on-White-Slip sherds (coeval with Conte polychromes), no diagnostic Escote Red-Buff and no Conte Red (flat- or groove-lip) rims were recovered. A very large proportion of the Cortezo Red-Buff rims are collared vessels with flattened and everted rims (n: 214 rims). The composition of the appendage modes corroborates suggestions of late Precolumbian or very early Colonial antiquity (21 tall pedestal fragments; 28 ring-bases of type B; and 31 heavy round handles). A complete smoked ware gourd effigy vessel was recovered as well as a a sherd from an incised incurving bowl, which is from outside Cocle. The absence of Aristides and Conte painted categories, and of Guacimo Red-on-White-Slip, argue against the site's having been occupied intensively before the last century or two before Spanish contact. The depositional characteristics of the oval and shallow mound suggest that the inhabitants of a single household or small group of households periodically deposited domestic trash in a designated locality within the small settlement.
- Identifier: Site ID
- NA-13
- Time Period: Excavation Date
- Excavation Date: 1971
- Place: Site Location
- Country: Panama Province: Cocle Town: Nata Site: Finca Cornejo Place Note: UTM coordinates are: 548800B-919800N
- Actor: Excavator
- Richard Cooke
| PID | Type | Title | Metadata | URL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| si_387612 | NA-13 (Finca Cornejo), pit B, excavated through a low refuse mound |
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| si_387613 | NA-13 (Finca Cornejo), pit B, excavated through a low refuse mound |
| Download |