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| Monagrillo | |
|---|---|
| Name | Monagrillo |
| Location | Herrera Province, Panama |
| Epoch | Early Ceramic |
| Cultures | Pre-Columbian |
| Excavations | 20th century, 21st century |
Monagrillo Monagrillo is an archaeological site in Herrera Province, Panama, noted for early ceramic assemblages and coastal adaptation. The site has been referenced in studies by Samuel Kirkland Lothrop, Willey, Gordon R., Irving Rouse, John W. Hoopes, Michael J. Maclachlan in syntheses alongside discussions of Panama Viejo, Gran Coclé, Barriles, and Coclé cultural frameworks. Scholars situate Monagrillo within debates involving Preceramic Panama, Mesoamerica, South America, Isthmus of Panama, and comparative sequences like Valdivia culture and Las Vegas culture.
Monagrillo occupies a coastal and estuarine setting near the Gulf of Panama and has produced early pottery, shell middens, and habitation features. Research publications have linked the site to broader regional topics such as contact hypotheses with Colombia, interaction spheres with Costa Rica, chronological models used for Greater Caribbean, and models developed by institutions like the Smithsonian Institution, University of Pennsylvania Museum, and Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. The site is often discussed in literature alongside fieldwork at Bartica, Cerro Mangote, Sambaqui, and Puerto Hormiga.
Excavations at the site began in the mid-20th century with reconnaissance and systematic trenching by teams that included personnel associated with Gordon R. Willey, Samuel K. Lothrop, and later projects involving archaeologists from University of Pittsburgh, University of Pennsylvania, and Instituto Nacional de Cultura (Panama). Field reports and monographs mention stratigraphic units, radiocarbon sampling, and artifact recovery comparable to methods used at Monte Verde, El Caño, and La Victoria (Panama). Excavation methodologies referenced include techniques promulgated in manuals from Society for American Archaeology, American Anthropological Association, and regional training at Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Estudios Superiores (CIESAS).
Stratigraphic sequences at the site show deposits interpreted as Early Ceramic phases, with radiocarbon dates calibrated alongside sequences from Gulf of Panama contexts and correlated to chronologies developed for Gran Coclé and Veraguas. Chronometric determinations reference accelerator mass spectrometry protocols used at facilities like Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of Arizona Laboratory of Tree‑Ring Research, and labs cited by teams working on Shell Midden contexts like Shellmound studies near Santa María (Panama). Debates over the initial appearance of pottery at Monagrillo invoke comparative chronologies such as those for Valdivia, Víncula, and Cupisnique.
The material culture includes simple, undecorated ceramics, shell tools, lithic debitage, and occasional groundstone artifacts, comparable in typology to assemblages from La Mula, Pocitos, Golfo de Paria, and Calima collections. Ceramic types discussed in publications are compared with diagnostic wares from Barriles, Cerro Mangote, and El Hatillo, and motifs have been contrasted with decorative programs at Monagrillo-adjacent sites used in regional typologies by Irving Rouse and Tom Dillehay. Faunal remains and manufacturing debris are contextualized alongside evidence reported from Bahía de Panamá, Gulf of Chiriquí, and Pearl Islands.
Faunal and botanical remains indicate a reliance on coastal fisheries, shellfish gathering, and exploitation of estuarine resources, drawing parallels to subsistence reconstructions from La Victoria (Panama), Punta Venado, and Jama-Coaque contexts. Interpretations incorporate models referenced in comparative studies of maritime economies at Chan-Chan, Samborombón, and San Jacinto (Colombia), and use isotopic approaches developed at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and British Museum projects. Discussions of resource procurement and exchange networks cite ethnographic analogies involving groups studied by researchers from University of California, Berkeley, Harvard University, and Yale University.
Paleoenvironmental reconstructions for the site integrate pollen, phytolith, and sedimentary analyses akin to studies from Barro Colorado Island, Gatun Lake, and Taboga Island. Sea-level change models referenced include work by Philip D. Gingerich and regional syntheses by NASA-supported projects and coastal geomorphology research conducted at Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). Climate variability and El Niño implications are framed using paleoclimatic datasets from Ice cores, Coral records, and records compared with lacustrine sequences from Lago de Petén Itzá.
Monagrillo is significant for its early ceramic evidence, contributions to models of coastal adaptation, and its role in debates about ceramic origins and interaction across the Isthmus. Interpretations engage broader theoretical discussions by scholars affiliated with University of Cambridge, University of London, University of Oxford, and specialized projects funded by agencies such as the National Science Foundation and National Geographic Society. The site features in syntheses of Panamanian prehistory alongside key publications by Tom Dillehay, Richard Cooke, Jeffrey Quilter, and María Fernanda Martínez.
Category:Archaeological sites in Panama