Isla Carranza

Folder Type:

Archaeology Site

Primary Title:

Isla Carranza

Summary Description:

Isla Carranza is a large island that forms in the human-made Lake Alhajuela during the Panama dry season when the levels of the lake drop drastically exposing variable areas of clay, which has been washed by waves and rain ever since the lake’s creation in the 1930s. This phenomenon has exposed many archaeological sites, both Colonial and Pre-Columbian. Lake Alhajuela (during the Canal Zone era called Lake Madden and often spell,t incorrectly,Alajuela) came to the attention of the archaeological world after the Second World War when vocational groups began to visit the eroded lake shores regularly. Among the finds of this time period were fluted projectile points of the Paleoindian tradition. These were announced in local journals and the proceedings of international congresses. This exposure in the literature alerted archaeologist Junius B. Bird, who was on the staff of the American Museum of Natural History. Bird was famed for his discovery of Paleoindians in caves in Chilean Patagonia where, for the first time outside the United States, he associated the remains of extinct mega-mammals (mostly horses and giant ground sloths) in the same strata as the weapons used to kill and prepare them, including fluted projectile points called “fish-tail” by Bird, and thereafter. Finds of fish-tail and slightly older Clovis fluted points at Lake Alhajuela attracted Bird to Panama. He was nearing retirement and thought that finding evidence for late Pleistocene peoples in the Central American tropics would be an appropriate swansong to his long and distinguished career, which had taken him also to the Arctic. Sadly, finding stratified early human sites in the Neotropics was much harder than Bird expected. He set up camp in the dry season of 1972 and dug quite large excavations under two calcareous rock-shelters. Tropical geomorphology confused him: Deflation prevailed over accretion. Bird dug under the superficial Pre-Columbian layers of these shelters into clay and went down and down. But he found nothing Preceramic and Paleoindian. In the afternoons, however, and at weekends, members of the Isthmian Archaeology Association--under the aegis of Florida State University’s Canal Zone Branch--would visit Bird’s camp, and go out with him to the islands in the lake in search of Paleoindian materials. Some luck was had with complete, re-sharpened and damaged fluted points, and other Paleoindian tools. Bird was an excellent communicator and he thoroughly enjoyed explaining stone tool technology for visitors and local people, using the very large samples of tools and debris at some localities for his demonstrations. One of the ephemeral islands where a lot of stone tools and pottery were visible on the eroded surface, was then called Isla Carranza. It does not appear on available Google Earth maps because the relevant images were taken during the rainy season. In the late dry season of 1973, Richard Cooke--who had joined Bird’s project as the assistant that year after completing his doctorate at London University’s Institute of Archaeology--went with Bird to Isla Carranza. While Bird was collecting stone tools and debris from the surface, Cooke noticed three darker stains showing through the reddish clay. One (Pit 1) was rectangular and straight-walled and did not contain any artifacts. It may have been dug in historic times to house a wooden coffin. The second circular stain revealed a circular shaft two meters deep (Pit 2). It contained pottery sherds in the fill of a kind that Cooke had not seen before. It may have been the shaft of a tomb type called “shaft and chamber,” which on Isla Carranza was abandoned before the chamber was completed. This form of mortuary feature has been reported at many sites dating, ostensibly or factually, to the first millennium BCE in the lower Río Tabasará Valley, Chiriquí (Pueblo Nuevo), and in the Pacific foothills of Coclé province (Cerro Guacamayo and El Limón) and Veraguas (Cerro Largo). The third pit (Pit 3) was shallow and basin-shaped and contained a group of Pre-Columbian stone tools. Bird named it the “axe-maker’s pit” for the reasons given below. The pottery dumped into pit 2 comprised both painted and plastically decorated vessels. Two radiocarbon dates on charcoal were obtained within the pit fill. The first was radiometric and gave an unsatisfactorily large standard deviation (155) resulting in a reading of 2020±155 BP, which calibrates at 2σ (INTEL04) to 390 cal BCE -370 cal CE with an estimate 13δ value of -25. Another sample sent in 2002 returned an AMS date of 2280±40, which at 2σ and with a 13δ value of -25, calibrates to cal BCE 400 & 310-210. This date is in greater harmony with those acquired at the mainland site of Coclé-1 and on Pedro González island (L-155) for similar types of modes. The pottery sample from Isla Carranza shows the following decorative modes: 1) vertical black lines on a red ground, similar to that of the pot-stands of the La Mula style in Coclé, Azuero, and southern Veraguas; 2) zones of shell-edge stamping with what looks like a small Anadara shell; 3) zones of punctations, 4) fillet appliqué strips which are punctated, 5) circumferential impressions on collared jar or open bowl lips with a pointed tool or marine shell edge; 5) wavy and straight incisions, 6) horizontally placed round handles with punctations, and 7) probable fingernail impression in zones. The lithic material found in pit 3 comprises 21 items: 1) 5 polished axes perhaps awaiting re-sharpening, 2) 1 roughed out axe, 4) elongated probably basalt pebble, perhaps a blank for a polished chisel; 3) 4 large flakes of fine chalcedony; 4) 5 bladelets of agate, 5) 2 black basalt axes re-used as hammer-stones; 6) 2 cobbles of chalcedony used as hammerstones; 7) 1 small round hammer-stone. This feature is one of only two finds of tools used fashioning and repairing polished axes. The other was found with skeleton 1975-8 in a small group cemetery at Sitio Sierra in coastal Coclé.

PID	Type	Title	Metadata	URL
si_1259763		Butler & Carranza rims	TitleInfo/title Butler & Carranza rims Abstract Pottery sherds found at Lake Alhajuela. B1-B4: Isla Butler; C5, C6, C11, C15, C16, C17, C18: Isla Carranza. Most of these rim and body sherds show zoned decoration made with the edge of a cockle (cf Anadara spp.). Others use appliqué strips and punctuations. One sherd shows a handle with a circular cross-section. Radiocarbon date: about 300 BCE (before the Christian Era). Name Luis A. Sánchez Name/role[2]/roleTerm Illustrator Identifier Butler2.jp2 OriginInfo/dateCaptured 1973	Download
si_1259768		Carranza 2	TitleInfo/title Carranza 2 Abstract Pottery found in Pit 2 (a deep shaft). These body sherds show designs made with incisions. The one identified as vessel 13 (C13) may have been impressed with a finger-nail. About 300 BCE (before the Christian Era). Subject/geographic Isla Carranza, Lake Alhajuela Name Luis A. Sánchez Name/role[2]/roleTerm Illustrator Identifier carranza2.jp2 OriginInfo/dateCaptured 1973	Download
si_1259769		Carranza 3	TitleInfo/title Carranza 3 Abstract Preliminary drawings with notes of four vessels found in Pit 2 (V# 6,7,8,9). They date to about 300 BCE (before the Christian Era). Subject/geographic Isla Carranza, Lake Alhajuela Name Luis A. Sánchez Name/role[2]/roleTerm Illustrator Identifier carranza3.jp2 OriginInfo/dateCaptured 1973	Download
si_1259770		Carranza 3,1	TitleInfo/title Carranza 3,1 Abstract Drawings of two reconstructed clay vessels (V. 7 & 8) found in Pit 2, a deep shaft on. They date to about 300 BCE (before the Christian Era). Subject/geographic Isla Carranza, Lake Alhajuela Name Luis A. Sánchez Name/role[2]/roleTerm Illustrator Identifier carranza3-1.jp2 OriginInfo/dateCaptured 1973	Download
si_1259772		Carranza 4	TitleInfo/title Carranza 4 Abstract Reconstructed collared ceramic vessel (“Vasija 1”) found in Pit 2 (a deep shaft). It is decorated on the neck with a circumferential pattern consisting of two rows of oblique incisions made with the edge of cockle (cf Anadara spp.). This vessel dates to about 300 BCE (before the Christian Era). Subject/geographic Isla Carranza, Lake Alhajuela Name Luis A. Sánchez Name/role[2]/roleTerm Illustrator Identifier carranza4-2.jp2 OriginInfo/dateCaptured 1973	Download
si_1259773		Carranza 5	TitleInfo/title Carranza 5 Abstract Black-on-red pottery found in Pit 2 (a deep shaft) (Vessel 12). It is reconstructed as a pot-stand. Stylistically these vessels they are cognate with “salvillas” (pot-stands) of the La Mula ceramic group found in Pacific Veraguas, eastern Azuero Peninsula, and southern Coclé. Carbon-dated to about 300 years BCE. Subject/geographic Isla Carranza, Lake Alhajuela Name Luis A. Sánchez Name/role[2]/roleTerm Illustrator Identifier carranza5.jp2 OriginInfo/dateCaptured 1973	Download
si_1259774		Carranza 5,1	TitleInfo/title Carranza 5,1 Abstract Vessel 12, a pot-stand decorated with black lines painted on a red slip. It recalls pot-stands of the La Mula pottery group from Pacific central Panama. Carbon-dated to about 300 years BCE. Subject/geographic Isla Carranza, Lake Alhajuela Name Luis A. Sánchez Name/role[2]/roleTerm Illustrator Identifier carranza5-1.jp2 OriginInfo/dateCaptured 1973	Download
si_1259775		Carranza 6	TitleInfo/title Carranza 6 Abstract Rim profiles of 12 collared jars from Pit 2 at Isla Carranza, Lago Alhajuela, 1983. Name Luis A. Sánchez Name/role[2]/roleTerm Illustrator Identifier carranza6.jp2 OriginInfo/dateCaptured 1973	Download
si_1259776		Carranza 7	TitleInfo/title Carranza 7 Abstract Vasija 4, found in Pit 2 (a deep shaft). Reconstruction and notes by Luís A. Sánchez. ~300 BCE Subject/geographic Isla Carranza, Lago Alhajuela Name Luis A. Sánchez Name/role[2]/roleTerm Illustrator Identifier carranza7.jp2 OriginInfo/dateCaptured 1973	Download
si_1259777		Carranza 8	TitleInfo/title Carranza 8 Abstract Vasijas 2 and 3, found in Pit 2 (a deep shaft). Reconstruction and notes by by Luís A. Sánchez. ~300 BCE. Name Luis A. Sánchez Name/role[2]/roleTerm Illustrator Identifier carranza8.jp2 OriginInfo/dateCaptured 1973	Download
si_1259778		Carranza final	TitleInfo/title Carranza final Abstract Four vessels found in Pit 2, a deep cylindrical shaft, shown with accompanying radiocarbon dates whose standard deviations differ greatly; top, radiometric, bottom AMS. Top left: Vasija 3, collared jar with zoned shell edge impressions at the collar junction, and, underneath, vertical punctated fillet appliqué strips; Top right: Vasija 8, urn with zoned punctated decoration; Bottom left: Vasija 12, pot-stand with a black-on-red decoration akin to the La Mula group pot-stands from Coclé, Azuero and Veraguas; Bottom right: Vasija 1, Urn with two circumferential bands of oblique shell edge impressions. Subject/geographic Isla Carranza, Lake Alhajuela Name Luis A. Sánches Name/role[2]/roleTerm Illustrator Identifier carranza-final.jp2 OriginInfo/dateCaptured 1973	Download
si_1259779		Carranza pit	TitleInfo/title Carranza pit Abstract Richard Cooke excavates Pit 2. Subject/geographic Isla Carranza, Lake Alhajuela Identifier CARRRANZA.PIT.1973.jp2 OriginInfo/dateCaptured 1973	Download
si_1259781		Carranza, cleaning	TitleInfo/title Carranza, cleaning Abstract Junius Bird cleans an exposed Pottery group. Subject/geographic Isla Carranza, Lakr Alhajuela Identifier IC-LA_s_001.jp2 OriginInfo/dateCaptured 1973	Download
si_1259782		Carranza, axe maker	TitleInfo/title Carranza, axe maker Abstract Contents of round "axe maker" feature. Subject/geographic Isla Carranza, Lake Alhajuela Identifier IC-LA_s_002.jp2	Download
si_1259787		Carranza, Fish-tail projectile	TitleInfo/title Carranza, Fish-tail projectile Abstract Find the spot of Paleoindian fishtail projectile point with snipped ears. Subject/geographic Isla Carranza, Lake Alhajuela Identifier IC-LA_s_008.jp2 OriginInfo/dateCaptured 1973	Download
si_1259791		Carranza, finding	TitleInfo/title Carranza, finding Abstract Find Spot of Paleoindian fish-tail point. Subject/geographic Isla Carranza, Lake Alhajuela Identifier IC-LA_s_012.jp2	Download