Sitio Sierra

Folder Type:

Archaeology Site

Primary Title:

Sitio Sierra

Summary Description:

Sitio Sierra (AG-3) is an extensive pre-Columbian village site in the Pacific coastal plains of Coclé province, Panama. According to ceramic typology and radiocarbon dates it was occupied between about 300 BCE and Spanish contact -- if not continuously then for long periods of time. An outlier human dentin date of 2840 ± 40 BP (1100-900 BCE [β-148201]) may indicate considerably earlier funerary activities. The village was centered on a slight elevation on what is now the northern banks of the River Santa María although it is possible – but unproven with field data -- that the river recently flowed north of its present channel and north of Sitio Sierra, in which case the site could have been on the southern bank for all or part of its 1800 year occupation (300 BCE-1520 CE). (These meanders to the north of the dirt road that leads to the site are clearly visible in Google Earth, 2013). Today, the active marine shore of Parita Bay is about 12 km east as the crow flies. The river is slightly tidal at this point but runs completely fresh. Thus, in strict ecological terms, Sitio Sierra lies at the landward edge of the upper estuary of the River Santa María. Judging from a fish bone sample taken over 3.2 mm mesh from a large refuse deposit dated between 300 and 550 CE, 70% of the fish consumed at this settlement are of marine origin. Sitio Sierra is one of a mere handful of Panamanian sites that have provided field data about the size, location, nature and interconnectivity of dwellings. Here they had dirt floors and superstructures were made entirely of perishable materials. The excellent preservation of human and animal bone is another salient characteristic, and was principal stimulus for Cooke’s 1975 season there. Two cemeteries were located: one containing 25 individuals is bracketed by seven human dentin 14C samples between 2130 ± 95 and 1770 ± 40 (2σ range: 390 cal BCE-380 cal CE). The other, in which eight individuals were found, has not been dated in this way. A date of 920 ± 80 BP (980-1270 cal CE) was provided by a wood charcoal sample found nested with sherds of a polychrome pedestal or pot-stand in one burial (C, 1971). It is noteworthy, however, that this date was calibrated by Beta Analytic with an assumed 13δ value of -25, and – to judge from known 13δ values for Sitio Sierra’s human remains – the real date is likely to be considerably younger and more consistent with the associated pottery. The mortuary pottery in the earlier cemetery belongs to the Aristide(s) group, which (Ladd, 1964) was re-defined from Willey and Stoddards’ (1954) “Santa Maria Complex”. Research over the last thirty years has amply corroborated its temporal antecedence to the Conte Polychromes. Currently it is proposed to date between 300 BCE and about 500 CE although more work is required to identify temporal divisions within the tradition. Aristide pottery appears to be a local sub-tradition within the Gran Coclé semiotic system arguably circumscribed to the provinces of Coclé and Veraguas (including the Caribbean foothills and El Valle).

Identifier: Site ID

AG-3

Note: Site Notes

In April, 1975, José Ma.Sierra sold the property to the Ingenio Ofelina sugar mill who promptly moved in heavy machinery. They cleared away all the “gallito” trees and levelled the terrain. Today there is no indication on the surface of the location of Cooke’s excavations. Using a 1:50,000 sheet from the Instituto Geográfico “Tommy Guardia” (Sheet 4040 II) Cooke gives the site’s location in his 1972 PhD thesis as 542000E-900500N. Crew members of the NSF-funded Proyecto Santa María research project, re-visited Sitio Sierra in 1982. The 0.5 wide transect that ran North-South from El Naranjal passed through Sitio Sierra before continuing across the river in Herrera province. Cultural debris was visible amid the furrows of the recently harvested cane. The site was gridded into 50x50 m squares. Systematic collection circles of 1 m diameter were located every at every corner stake. Other collection units were placed where there were particularly dense clusters of cultural material. This work showed that the maximum extent of cultural material covered ca. 45 ha. The collections have still not been broken down into chronological units. Therefore we do not yet know precisely how the site waxed and waned in size although these data are in theory recoverable. Results will be incorporated at a later date into this data base.

Place: Site Location

Country: Panama Place Note: In his PhD thesis (London, 1972) Cooke gives the directions to Sitio Sierra (AG-3) as follows: “Turning off the Interamerican Highway immediately opposite the entrance to the Ingenio Santa Rosa, ref.: 5379800E-9038500N, one continues towards [the township] of La Loma and then veers south-east, just before the major concentration of houses is reached, a short way after the asphalted stretch ends. About 2 km further on, a white bridge across a ciénaga formed by the Quebrada Blanca is reached. Five hundred m. east there is a rancheria and a small corral, which mark the entrance to the Sierra finca. Driving across a small dirt path which crosses the potreros for about 500 m, one comes to a corotú tree (Enterolobium cyclocarpum). The archaeological site is situated on a noticeable rise just east of the tree and the path, spanning the first and second potreros of Don Sierra. Flood waters stretch right round the site in Nopember-January, but never reach the archaeological zone”. Cooke’s notes state that the excavated area was 800 m north of the river almost exactly halfway between the north bank and the cane-field servicing road, which is still (2013) used as for this purpose. The elevated area where the test-pits were placed was contour-mapped in 1971 by Rupert Thorp of British engineering company Binnie and Co. When Cooke first visited the site in the dry season of 1970, following a lead from Pedro Quirós, then a primary school teacher at Caimito near Penonomé, ample Pre-Columbian remains were found eroding out of cattle tracks across the pasture. Stunted thorny bushes were liberally distributed across the pasture and acted as nesting sites for red-faced spinetails (Synallaxis ). Both banks of the River Santa Maria were lined with a fairly lush gallery forest with tall trees, among them a ceiba tree, which gave its local name to the area (El Bongo). This was where Cook erected his camp in the dry season of 1975. Ancient meanders to the west of the low elevation where the excavations were conducted in 1970, ’71, ’73, and ’75, were lined with tall “gallito” (Erythryna glauca) trees. Cayman and American crocodiles, some of them quite large, were commonly spotted within and around the ancient meanders and along the River Santa Maria. Water birds (e.g. jacanas, herons, egrets, wood ibis, black-bellied whistling-ducks and roseate spoonbills) were then very abundant.

PID	Type	Title	Metadata	URL
si_121198		AG3	TitleInfo/title AG3 Abstract Sitio Sierra (AG03), Cocle, Panama. 1973 excavations of a burial ground dating to about	Download
si_121805		Sitio Sierra, AG-3, Field Notes	TitleInfo/title Sitio Sierra, AG-3, Field Notes Name Richard Cooke TypeOfResource text Language/languageTerm English Abstract Field notes from archaeological excavations at La Loma (AG-3) during 1971. PhysicalDescription/form text Subject/hierarchicalGeographic/continent North America	Download
si_121806		Cartas AG3	TitleInfo/title Cartas AG3 Name Richard Cooke TypeOfResource text Language/languageTerm Spanish Abstract Set of 6 documents: 1) Application letter of exportation of carbonized seeds from Sitio Sierra and Cueva de los Ladrones to be studied by C. Earle Smith from the University of Alabama. Requested by Richard Cooke. 2) Previous application granted. 3) Application letter of exportation of small mammal bones from Sitio Sierra to be studied by Dr. Charles Handley from Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Previous application granted. 4) Previous application granted. 5) Contract extension to Richard Cooke and directed to Temistocles Arjona (Director of the Inmigration and Naturalization Department of Panamá). 6) Contract No. 79-644 from 1979 to Richard Cooke as temporary professor in Universidad de Panamá. PhysicalDescription/form text Subject/hierarchicalGeographic/continent North America	Download
si_121807		Notes on Burials, AG-3	TitleInfo/title Notes on Burials, AG-3 Name Richard Cooke TypeOfResource text Abstract Notes from 21 skeletons on AG-3 burial made in April 1975. PhysicalDescription/form text Subject/hierarchicalGeographic/continent North America	Download
si_1244262		El Carpintero y el Hachero: dos artesanos del Panama Prehistorico	TitleInfo/title El Carpintero y el Hachero: dos artesanos del Panama Prehistorico Name Richar Cooke Name/role Author TypeOfResource text Genre Professional Publication OriginInfo/publisher Revista Panamena de Antropologia OriginInfo/place/placeTerm Panama Language/languageTerm spa Abstract Family cemetery in Sitio Sierra and evidence that by the end of Period IV there were craftsmen specialized in the community (wood artifacts and polished axes). PhysicalDescription/form text Subject/hierarchicalGeographic/continent North America Subject/hierarchicalGeographic/country Panama	Download
si_2754967		EWA NOWASKA skeleton notes	TitleInfo/title EWA NOWASKA skeleton notes Name Ewa Nowaska Name/role Physical Anthropologist TypeOfResource text Language/languageTerm eng Abstract Tables of skeleton measurements analyzed by Ewa Nowaska of Sitio Sierra. PhysicalDescription/form text Note Original notes were made in polish. Subject/hierarchicalGeographic/continent North America Subject/hierarchicalGeographic/country Panama Name[2]/namePart Alexandra Lara Kraudy Name[2]/role Translator & Transcriber	Download
si_2764904		Nowaska Report	TitleInfo/title Nowaska Report Name Ewa Nowaska Name/role Physical anthropoligist TypeOfResource text OriginInfo/dateIssued 1988 Language/languageTerm eng Abstract Final Report made in 1988 by Ewa Nowaska due to her short-term scholarship in the Archaeological laboratories at Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. She cleaned and preserved human skeletons and measured those bones suitable for the purpose. She took 3 skeleton's sites for this: 1) Cerro Mangote with 5 burials and 15 individuals within. 2) Sitio Sierra with 2 burial grounds: Ground B (22 burials with fragments of 24 individuals). Ground ± 1100 AD [Series A (4 burials with fragments of 4 skeletons), Series F (fragments of 3 individuals) and Series G (5 burials with fragments of 5 individuals). 3) Remains of 2 incomplete skeletons from the Series CA-3. PhysicalDescription/form text Subject/hierarchicalGeographic/continent North America Subject/hierarchicalGeographic/country Panama	Download
si_2784982		Sitio Sierra Map	TitleInfo/title Sitio Sierra Map Abstract General Map of Sitio Sierra	Download