Hornito 1
- Folder Type:
- Archaeology Site
- Primary Title:
- Hornito 1
- Summary Description:
- Hornito-1 is a small open air site situated in the lower highlands of Chiriquí province at 650 m.a.s.l. Culturally and chronologically it belongs to the Talamanca Phase, originally defined by Ranere in the 1970s on the basis of excavations conducted at the Casita de Piedra and Trapiche rock-shelters, which are located higher up (ca 800 masl) in the valley of the Chiriquí River at a distance of 12 km from Hornito-1. In the early 1970s, Ranere defined two Preceramic phases: Talamanca Phase (8000-5200 cal BP) and Boquete Phase (5200-2100 cal BP). The stone tool kit of the Talamanca Phase is characterized by the prominence of basalt tools used for fashioning large bifacially flaked wedges or axes, scraper-planes, choppers, and flake knives. Grinding stones used on the thin edges (known as “edge-ground cobles”), milling stone bases, and nutting stones for palm nuts were also used. Hornito-1 is shallow, superficial, and single component consisting of a cultural stratum 10-25 cm thick and was probably occupied briefly or lightly during the period 7760-6680 calibrated radiocarbon years ago (cal BP). Richard Cooke discovered the Hornito-1 site during a cultural resource management survey in late April 1976. This work was requested by Panama’s then state-funded Electricity Board (Instituto de Recursos Hidráulicos y Electrificación) (IHRE) before the construction of the dam across the River Chiriquí creating Lake Fortuna and the Fortuna hydroelectric project. Hornito-1 was identified from the wall of a shallow bulldozer swathe during operations related to the road (now highway) that connects the Fortuna dam to the Machine House (“Casa de Máquinas”). Black stone flakes and tool fragments were traced to an area 60 x 30 meters located on a flat-topped hillock in broken terrain, close to a small stream. A subsequent visit in 1978 opened a 2 x 3 m cut on the hillock and other test cuts in an exposed profile in a road cut. The work was again funded by IRHE. Stone tools were individually plotted and numbered before removal to the laboratory in Panama City. This allowed the re-fitting of pieces of the same tools, which were then re-used, demonstrating that people lived here long enough to curate utensils. Ranere originally proposed that the Talamanca Phase corresponded to hunters and gatherers. He did not find carbonized or microscopic plant remains to refute this assumption. No animal bones survived in the highly acid soils of cordilleran Chiriquí. The rapid development of microbotanical techniques in the 1980s, however, changed this panorama. Dickau determined through the analysis of starch grains and phytoliths embedded in stone tools that Chiriquí’s Talamanca Phase peoples were, in fact, farmers who cultivated maize (Zea mays), American yams (including Dioscorea cf urophylla), arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea), and manioc or cassava (Manihot esculenta). They also either cultivated or collected wild Zamia (a cycad with edible starchy roots, widely used for food in the West Indies). Maize and Zamia were identified on tools from Hornito-1. Ranere’s Casita de Piedra was re-tested by Ruth Dickau in late 2006 and early 2007. She recovered charred nance (Byrsonima crassifolia) seeds, which were AMS-dated to 10,460-10,220 cal BP and 10,710-10,490 cal BP suggesting that this shelter was used by humans right at the end of the late glacial period. She also reported a cache of unusual stones, probably placed in a bag at the back of the shelter, inferring that they were the property of shaman-curer. These were dated to 4800-4000 cal BP.
| PID | Type | Title | Metadata | URL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| si_1259756 | Hornitos, sieving |
| Download | |
| si_1259757 | Hornito, Lithics |
| Download | |
| si_1259758 | Hornito, Lithics |
| Download | |
| si_1259759 | Hornito, sieving |
| Download |