I PACIFIC LATIN AMERICA IN PREHISTORY The Lvolution of Archaic and Formative Cultures Edited by Michael Blake WSU PRESS Washington State University Press Pullman, Washington Washington State University Press PO Box 645910 Pullman, WA 99164-5910 Phone 800-354-7360; FAX 509-335-8568 ©1999 by the Board of Regents of Washington State University All rights reserved First printing 1999 Printed and bound in the United States of America on pH neutral, acid-free paper. Reproduction or transmission of material contained in this publication in excess of that permitted by copyright law is prohibited without permission in writing from the publisher. Libraly ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pacific Latin America in prehistory: the evolution of archaic and formative cultures / edited by Michael Blake. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-87422-166-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Paleo-indians-Latin America-Pacific Coast. 2. Pacific Coast (Latin America)-Antiquities. 1. Blake, Michael, 1953­ . E65.P12 1999 911 '.8'091823-dc21 98-43834 ClF 8 Precolumbian Fishing on the Pacific Coast of Panama Richard G. Cooke and Anthony 1. Ranere Introduction: Estuarine skeletons in ontogenetic series (i.e., representing different Fishing in the Eastern Tropical Pacific life stages) in order to identify their ichthyofaunas to the satisfaction of the archaeologists who recover them so It is well known that the productivity, biotic diversity and painstakingly in the field. Objective interpretation of geological heterogeneity of large estuary-lagoon systems human exploitation requires baseline biological data on how along the Pacific coast of tropical America were causally individual species behave and are distributed in the many related to the precocity and intensity of sedentism and different sectors of an estuary. This is a tricky task because civilization in Precolumbian times. Most archaeologists are ETP estuarine fish have been surprisingly poorly studied aware that the abundance, variety and accessibility of (Cooke 1992). Fisheries research has concentrated on estuarine animals offered pre-Spanish hunter-gatherers and commercially important non-estuarine fish, such as tunnies, farmers many alternatives for exploitation. Intrinsic big jack, and groupers. Field biologists have emphasized resource diversity is conducive to intensification from fish that live on reefs or near rocks because they are easier within a biome. Each estuarine system, however, has its to observe than species that swim in turbid waters subjected own biological, physical and historical peculiarities. Many to strong tidal influences. eastern tropical Pacific (henceforth ETP) estuaries are quite extensive. They harbored contemporary human groups with Research Rationale different social and cultural histories. Therefore it is important to inventory resource distribution in space and Our chapter refers to the Santa Marfa estuary on the time within specific estuarine systems in order to determine central Pacific Coast of Panama (Figure 1). This is the their relevance to local, regional and universal correlates of region where the "Code" culture developed, now more economic development. prosaically known as the "Central Region" of Panama In recent years, archaeologists have benefitted from (Cooke and Ranere 1992b; Lothrop 1937, 1942). This improving standards of archaeofaunal and geoarchaeo­ culture is considered to be typical of complex and stratified logical field and laboratory techniques. Nevertheless, chiefdoms in the lowlands of tropical America (Helms reports on animal exploitation in the ETP are still biased 1979; Linares 1977; Willey 1971). The regional chronology towards in vertebrates and large terrestrial vertebrates. has been well-defined. However, Precolumbian settlement Molluscs and mammal and bird bones are easier to see and patterns in the region are imperfectly understood (Cooke collect than tiny fish bones. Furthermore, they generally 1984a; Cooke and Ranere 1992b). represent fewer utilized species, whose skeletons and shells In vestigations into regional subsistence economies are are stored in accessible reference collections. Manyarchae­ still in an interim stage. We cannot collate all the relevant ologists have learnt to handle identifications themselves bodies of data to the satisfaction of a demanding cultural with the help of practical guidebooks. historian. For this reason, we have chosen a topic that the ETP fish faunas are a different matter. Many families existing information can address reasonably objectively, if and genera that live in or enter estuaries are "speciose," i.e., not completely: the degree to which the taxonomic composi­ they contain several species. Although they often resemble tion and proportionality of dietary fish remains from two each other morphologically, these species partition particu­ sites with different 14C ages and topographies within the lar estuarine systems in subtle ways. This diversity means Santa Maria estuary can be used to infer cultural parameters that archaeozoologists must collect large numbers of (i.e., habitat use, capture techniques and foraging ranges) as 103 .... Dry and lJallery B1]farest remnants ~Mangrove ~AIVjnO and sail -- marsh -- 0" .' -- -1: - - :: -:. '. TIDAL A -L VI N A - - '. ------0 FLATS MARIA ~ I Kill <-----J ~N 50km Figure 1. The Middle Estuary of the Santa Maria River in Central Panama, Showing the Locations of Cerro Mangote and Sitio Sierra. well as topographical ones (i.e., site location vis-a-vis the names, we follow their lead. Where we cannot find an evolving coastline). English name, we have invented one (for example, we The two sites are: Cerro Mangote and Sitio Sierra. Cerro translate amblops as "bluntnosed"). Table 1 lists all the fish Mangote was a preceramic camp or hamlet occupied taxa recorded in the archaeological bone samples so that between ca. 5650 and 3600 cal B.c. and, during this period, readers can cross-check popular and biological nomencla­ located about 1.2-5.5 km from the coastline. Sitio Sierra ture. was a nucleated farming village which would have been The Santa Maria River Estuary about 12 km inland between approximately cal A.D. 1 and 400. 1 Our multidisciplinary project in the Santa Marfa basin Summaries of the peculiarities of ETP estuarine fish began in the early 1980s (Cooke and Ranere 1984, 1992a, diversity, ecology and distribution are presented elsewhere 1992b). The eponymous river enters the sea at Parita Bay. (Cooke 1992, 1993a, 1993b; Cooke and Tapia 1994a, Geological sediment cores extracted with a "Vibracore" 1994b). Even so, the following text contains detailed allow us to correlate some aspects of the evolution of its information about fish. In case some readers fmd this delta with sea-level change (Barber 1981; Clary et al. 1984) tedious, we employ the scientific binomial the first time we and, thence, with archaeological sites where fish bones are mention a taxon, and thereafter rely on English common important components of middens (Cooke and Ranere 1984, names. Our marine fish reference is Allen and Robertson's 1989; Cooke 1992, 1993b). Fishes of the Eastern Tropical Pacific (1994). Their To compensate for the scant information about ETP nomenclature differs from that of other monographs (e.g., estuarine fish faunas, we sponsored three parallel investiga­ Bussing and LOpez 1993; FAa 1995; Thomson et al. 1979), tions into modern fish distribution and fishing techniques but since we applaud their attempt to standardize vernacular within this system (localities are identified in Figure 1): (1) 104 the ethnology of fishing at two Parita Bay coastal villages Ta'ble 1. List of Fish Taxa Identified at Cerro Mangote (EI Rompfo, Aguadulce, and Boca de Parita, MonagrilJo) and Sitio Sierra. (directed by John Bort), (2) a taxonomic and quantitative evaluation of the nektonic (i.e., free swimming) fauna Genus and species English Synthesis of captured in an intertidal net-and-pole trap in the Estero Palo name fishing Blanco, Aguadulce, a mangrove-fringed inlet just north of records the Estero Salado channel (Cooke and Tapia 1994b), and (3) a survey of marine fish amphidromy (i.e., periodic Elasmobranchs upward and downward movements) in the middle (mixing) CARCHARHINIDAE: and upper (fluvial) estuary of the Santa Marfa River, based Carcharhinus altimus' bignose shark on bi-monthly captures made with different fishing tech­ C. leucas bull shark niques at four stations located between .8 and 20 km from C. limbatus blacktip shark R the mouth (Table 1; Cooke and Tapia 1994a). Rhizoprionodon longurio Pacific sharpnose Although this research promises to fme-tune our inter­ shark pretations of Precolumbian fishing, there remain several DASYATIDAE: unresolved problems. The first is insoluble: the native Dasyatis longus long-tailed stingray 0 population in this part of Panama was exterminated, MYLIOBATIDAE: hybridized or radically hispanicized soon after initial Aeteobalus narinari spotted eagle ray PRISTIDAE: contact (Romoli 1987). Hence we cannot assume continuity Pristis sawfish 2,4 between pre- and post-contact fishing methods. All that our SPHYRNIDAE: "middle range research" (Trigger 1989:362-7) has achieved Sphyrna lewini scalloped hammer­ so far is to point out which fishing techniques may have head R been used, and in which estuarine habitats the fish taxa Sphyrna tiburo bonnethead identified in the archaeological bone samples may have been UROLOPHIDAE: caught. It is possible that some modern techniques were Urotrygon asterias stingray 0 actually