La Herradura (PN-11), Rio Grande, Cocle, test excavations
- Folder Type:
- Archaeology Site
- Primary Title:
- La Herradura (PN-11), Rio Grande, Cocle, test excavations
- Alternate Title: Abbreviation
- La Herradura (PN-11)
- Summary Description:
- La Herradura (PN-11) is a Precolumbian dwelling site dating to between 300 and 850 CE, which is located near a fossil meander of the Rio Grande de Cocle, not far from the town of Rio Grande. It was located by Richard Cooke in 1969 following a lead from British engineers employed by Binnie & Co who were constructing Pilot Canal, Cocle II for the Proyecto de Riego Llanos de Cocle, and had seen sherds stretching along the canal for a distance of about 140 m north-west of the Old Highway constructed before the Second World War. In October, 1969, Cooke excavated en exploratory cut of a 1x1 m (Pit A) placed 70 m from the Old Highway. He took it to a depth of 1 m in arbitrary 20 cm levels. Cooke returned to the site on January 27th., 1970, and opened Pit B, a 2 x 2 m square put down 75 m from the Old Highway and 3.5 ms north of the north wall of the irrigation canal. The helpers were Miguel Becerra and Jose Maria Dolores, of Rio Grande village, and Demetrio "Meco" Ortega of Las Postas. The excavation was undertaken in arbitrary levels of 10 cm as the previous test had revealed no appreciable anomalies in the soil profile. The first few centimeters consisted of sterile backfill from the canal and level measurements were taken from a datum erected above the back-fill. Levels 1 and 2 (i.e. 10-30 cm below datum) were well compacted showing signs of churning by agricultural activity in the past: some minuscule sherds appeared to have been charred recently. No modern artifacts were recovered, however. Small carbon flecks began to appear in level 4, increasing in frequency in level 5; but they were invariably small, and never concentrated. In level 3, the grey-brown humic soil graded into a yellower soil, which became more clayey in level 7, when the size of sherds increased noticeably, especially in the south-western corner of the pit. The only soil anomalies were frequent lenses of very fine yellowish sand, which were scattered randomly throughout levels 7-10. These were always shallow (<5 cm) and appeared to form no regular pattern. The dense lens of sherds that begun in level 7 continued into level 9. Some sherds may have represented a cache or caches since in one case large pieces of the same vessel were placed on top of each other. In level 10, the number of sherds dropped off drastically in the northern half of the pit al though they continued in the southern half. By level 13 the soil had turned glutinous and gley-like, and sherds became very scarce. The pit was continued, in the south-western corner only, to a depth of 1.80 m. The water table was reached at 1.7 m. Preliminary analysis of the pottery recovered from Pit B indicated that there might, after all, be a correlation between soil changes and cultural horizons in the deposit. Accordingly, pit B was extended 3 m westwards. First, a 1 x 1 m cut, Pit C, was was excavated 3 m west of Pit B and taken down in arbitrary 10 cm levels. Pit D-- the 2x1 m section between pits B and D -- was excavated by reference to perceived differences in soil coloration in the dry profiles. Cooke, however, did not find a meaningful correlation between pottery and the purported natural strata. . Pit D's perceived natural soil horizons were: I: 0-10 cm: Culturally sterile back-fill from irrigation canal II: 10-25 cm: Grey-brown humus III: 25-70 cm: Yellowish-brown soil, more clayey towards the surface; occasional lenses of fine yellow sand. (The level was divided into four approximately equal units of 10 cm) IV: 70-100 cm: Yellowish-brown clayey soil, becoming rapidly greyer V: 100-130 cm: Yellowish, sandy soil, with grey streaks, becoming increasingly heavily gleyized. Pits C and D were taken down to 130 cm, to the base of the heavily gleyized soil. Pit E When the site was first revealed, a few sherds were found eroding from the banks of the canal on the other side of the rivulet, which crossed the site and entered the ox-bow. Stretching for ca 100 m along the canal from the ox-bow, a fossil river bar was visible, consisting of heavy pebbles and boulders. Backed up against the bar was a block of homogeneous sandy fill, presumably formed while the Rio Grande followed the course of the ox-bow. The sherds seemed to be eroding from above the culturally sterile fill for a distance of about 80. Therefore Pit E (1x1 m) was laid down at the apex of the humic sediments above the sand, 3 m from the northern edge of the canal. Cultural material was present in the first 50 cm of this soil, but disappeared abruptly at the transition between the humus and the sand. Pit E terminated at 1.60 m below modern ground surface when a fossil stream bed was reached and the soil became too wet to continue digging. No sherds were recovered below 50 ems. Two other cuts were laid down in early March, 1970: Pit F, situated 60 m from the Old Highway and 3.5 m from the northern wall of the canal, measured I x 2 m along the west-east axis and was taken down in arbitrary levels to a depth of one meter. Sherds were far less dense in this pit than in any of the others on the site. Pit G began as a 1 x 1 m unit, located 9 m north of the north-eastern corner of pit B-D-C, just inside the boundary fence between the Irrigation Project-owned land and the Fernandez finca. The initial 1 x 1 cm test was taken down in 10 cm arbitrary levels to 1.0 m. Extensions were then made 2x1 ms to the north, and 2x1 ms to the east. The whole L-shaped unit was continued in 10 cm. levels to a depth of 1.25 m below surface. Sherds had vanished by the end of level 11 (ca 1.05 m) Both pits F and G had very homogeneous profiles, the only difference in soil coloration being the twenty cm humic band across the top.
- Identifier: Site ID
- PN-11
- Time Period: Site Period
- 300 and 850 CE
- Time Period: Excavation Date - Pit A
- October, 1969
- Time Period: Excavation Date - Pit B
- January 27th, 1970
- Place: Site Location
- Country: Panama Province: Cocle Town: Rio Grande Site: La Herradura
- Actor: Excavator
- Richard Cooke
| PID | Type | Title | Metadata | URL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| si_387614 | La Herradura (PN-11), Excavations |
| Download | |
| si_387615 | La Herradura (PN-11) |
| Download |