Doctoral Dissertation Research: Craft Production, Exchange, and the Development of Complex Society in the Volcan Baru Region of Western Panama

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Under the supervision of Dr. Robert D. Drennan, doctoral candidate Scott Palumbo will carry out surface collections and test excavations at the site of Barriles and several smaller sites in the Volcan Baru region in the mountains of western Panama, in order to evaluate the importance of craft production and exchange in the emergence and development of social inequality between 350 B.C. and A.D. 1520. Previous researchers have argued that emerging elites in this region established control over the production of ground stone tools necessary to forest clearance and wood working tools and thereby made an ever larger population dependent upon them. Others have argued that control over the production of luxury items was another way by which elites gained prestige and influence.Previous research in the Volcan Baru region has already shown that archaeological evidence for the production of ground stone axes and related tools is present at several large communities. Mr. Palumbo will collect more detailed evidence to evaluate whether this production was controlled by or otherwise connected to emerging social elites at these centers. His larger samples of artifacts from more controlled contexts will also reveal whether there was specialized production of other sorts of utilitarian items and/or of luxury or symbolic items. Smaller settlements will also be included in his sample, making it possible to assess whether such specialized production was absent there. Such a result would lead to the conclusion that these subsidiary places were dependent upon larger centers of production for such goods. Whether, and when, these kinds of patterns emerged during the two millennia of social change to be studied will be the key to understanding how important was the role of control over specialized economic production in the increasingly hierarchical social organization of the region. The artifact samples Mr. Palumbo's analysis will be based on will be recovered from thousands of tiny excavation units widely distributed through the residential sections of several settlements, making possible comprehensive statements about the organization of production and its relationship to social ranking. Ultimately, the results of this research will be used to compare the Volcan Baru region to other regions in the world to understand better how social inequality developed and persisted in the past.This research will also have broader impacts beyond its scientific findings. It will provide essential training for the doctoral candidate, as well as for Panamanian, Costa Rican, Colombian and North American students who will be engaged in several aspects of the field and laboratory work. In this way, the project will also strengthen international scientific collaboration. Public appreciation of the nature and relevance of archaeological research, as well as the importance of protecting the archaeological record, will be enhanced though community outreach to local schools and universities. Results will be presented in the towns of Volcan and Cerro Punta, Chiriqui Province, to inform local residents about the findings, and thus about the cultural heritage of their region.