User:Alexnort/Archaeological site: Cerro Mangote

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Cerro Mangote is a preceramic archaeological site in Panama located near Parita Bay. Based on its archaeological signature,it can best be described as a seasonal, coastal shell midden site. According to L. AntoniaCuret's (1998) estimate, with a site size of roughly 1750 meters squared, Cerro Mangote could have occupied about 30 inhabitants. and was occupied for between 1000-2000 years. Based on the analysis of stone tools and radiocarbon dates collected, the site is dated to 6810 B.P+ or -100 years. Archaheologists have found ninety  burials at the site which has provided vital information to the occurrence of secondary burials in Central America along with evidence of diet, subsistence strategies, and relationships among other groups in central Panama.

Site Location
Cerro Mangote is one of the best known archaeological sites in the Parita Bay area of Panama. It lies about 8-10 kilometers above the mouth of the Rio Santa Maria river .However, in the past it lied closer to the sea and was occupied before the delta of the nearby Santa Maria had formed. Cerro Mangote is technically the first and largest of a series of three hills to the north of the Cocle banks. The site itself is a shell midden site and is located on the north slope of the east side of the hill. The entire hill is covered with dense vegetation.

History of Initial Excavations
Cerro Mangote was first excavated by Charles McGimsey in 1955 and again in 1956 when he set out to broaden the understanding of prehistoric Panama. In six months, he and his team located about fifty sites in Panama and conducted text excavations on half of them including Cerro Mangote. McGimsey chose to open up two trenches and four pits around the area. Over 300 cubic meters of material were excavated along with a few surface finds including fifty skeletons and a few pottery sherds. McGimsey points out however that the 5 ceramic sherds found fell into the working pits, along with other debris, dist and dirt, while the workmen were climbing in and out of the pits. Most of the human remains were not well preserved however a few skulls were found intact.There was substantial variation in mortuary practice including flexed and extended positions, a few bundle burials, and group burials. A small sample of carbon at a level of about 130-145 cm was collected whose dates of between 7000-5000 B.P proved to precede the Monagrillo phase.

Diet and Subsistence strategies
Some interesting subsistence strategies were identified at Cerro Mangote including evidence of a garden, cultivating maize and the preservation of nearly 1000 animal bones providing archaeologists a doorway into the past of what the people at Cerro Mangote were eating Animal bones found in the midden included shellfish, crab, birds, iguanas, deer, rabbits, sea turtles, catfish, toadfish, anteaters, pecas and raccoon. In the western trench the most commonly found species was crab, Menippe frontalis, while in the eastern trench oyster shells were more common accounting for 50% of the shells excavated. McGimsey originally thought that the site was a permanent habitation inhabiting a small group, larger than a single family whose subsistence strategies included wild plants, gathering shellfish and minimal hunting. However later investigations from isotopic results from 12 burials proposed that the inhabitants were not coastal foragers but in fact may have lived inland where maize was being cultivated. To have the observed collagen and apatite isotopic composition in the human remains analyzed, the inhabitants could only have spent about two months per year consuming the protein sources represented in the midden. It is likely the group followed a seasonal exploitation of the marine resources found at the site. The dietary proportion indicated a diet of about 33.5% terrestrial/ freshwater animals, 1.1% non-estuarine marine fishes and 65.4% estuarine animals. Lynette Norr proposed that Cerro Mangote may have been used by the maize horticulturists who spent the rest of the year closer inland at sites like Cueva de los Landrones. This may explain why their fishing strategies were more land-based. Richard Cooke suggested that since bones of the fish found in the midden appeared at small inland farming occupations, it is possible the fish were being transported. Also, the stable geochemistry indicated an early date of when the cultivation of maize first became part of the subsistence pattern for the inhabitants of central Pacific Panama between 5000-3000 B.C. or 7000-5000 B.P.

Stone Tools and Fishing Technology
Cerro Mangote has been characterized by ground stone implements such as manos and metates Some stone artifacts and tools discovered during excavations included stone balls, discs, grinders, choppers, manos, metates and pounders, however none of the stone tools showed any signs of secondary flaking or intentional modification.The only modifcation to any of the stone resulted from the use of the tool. Origins of the stone material were found locally around the site including petrified wood, jasper, and chalcedony. The pebble stones were likely also found locally in the nearby river beds. Artifacts found at the site included 26 pebbles likely used for chopping or grinding, 9 pebble manos, 15 metates, 8 pebble pounders, and 164 other stone specimens. Other artifacts found at site included worked shell. Although shell is the most commonly encountered artifact at the site, there were only 2 pieces of worked shell including a bead and a pendant.McGimsey made a note that this find should not be that surprising because shell can be used as many types of receptacles without any modification There was also evidence certain of fishing strategies, not from the encountering of stone and bone tool technology but a lack of technology seen. Nearly all fish could be caught using pole and net traps placed on estuarine mudflats. However the only evidence that supported this was the lack of hooks, harpoons and net weights found at and around the site. Another aspect of the site is a lack of pottery therefore it has been suggested that the occupants cooked and stored food in receptacles made out of perishable plant material.

Mortuary Archaeology
Throughout the history of the archaeological investigations conducted, a total of 90 individuals have been recovered from Cerro Mangote with evidence of three different burial techniques. In McGimsey's first excavation he discovered 12 burials and 100 other human bone fragments but unfortuantely none of them were well preserved. He found the bones scattered throughout the strata of the site and noted how the long bones were placed parallel to one another along the east west while vertebrae, hand, and foot bones were found in the central part of the burial. He also noticed cut marks on some bones likely a result of the defleshing process. When he returned again he found more burials and now had a total of 71 human specimens including 3 isolated skulls. Dr. Anthony Ranere later investigated and found an additional 19 individuals, 10 of whom showed signs of defleshing. All together there were 50 individuals over the age of 16, 22 children, and 13 infants.

When McGimsey's field notes were evaluated, there were problems with his distribution of primary or flexed and secondary or bundle burials associated with his stratigraphy. Lynette Norr's analysis of stable and nitrogen content point to a single population while McGimsey's field notes do not. Lange points out that the existence of three different burial techniques does not necessarily represent different groups mortuary practices, but could represent three different stages in treatment of the body. First the people would bury their dead in a flexed position, then dig them up, possibly deflesh them, then rebury them in bundles.Archaeologist Karen Stothert reported similar occurrences in preceramic Vegas culture.

Realtionships with other Groups in Central Panama
Stothert argued that a relationship existed between the people utilizing Cerro Mangote and preceramic Vegas culture. She believed that they belonged to what she called an interactive sphere including the people living between northern Peru and Parita Bay. This is supported through linguistic evidence as both groups belonged to the Chibchan-Paezan language.

Other evidence of interactions between the people at Cerro Mangote and other preceramic groups is the discovery of two fragments of manatee ribs recovered by McGimsey in 1956. Since manatees did not exist around the area at this time, it is logically assumed that it must have come from the Caribbean side. More research needs to be done in order to establish a more concrete social network between the people using Cerro Mangote and other preceramic people in Panama.