• Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage
• European Commission close
• ArtEmpire close
• Repositorio Institucional Olavide close

The study of food consumption during the colonial period in Panama Viejo traditionally has been based on chronicles and archival documentation. The present analysis reassesses the historical information about diet in this colonial enclave based on microbotanical, isotopic and bioanthropological evidence obtained from the excavations within and outside the remains of the old city¿s Cathedral in two locations and four chronological periods to complement and contrast written sources. The ensuing data sets, once integrated, point to the consumption of native plants, particularly maize, among people of different ancestral origins from the settlement¿s earliest years, as well as the consumption of wheat ¿ which could not be grown in the region ¿ plantains and rice, whose cultivation was introduced successfully. Stable isotope evidence indicates a shift from dietary strategies based on maize, seafood and terrestrial animal meat in pre-Hispanic and early colonial times to diets featuring more C3 plants, including rice, wheat, and plantains, as well beef and dairy products during the later colonial period. This gradual shift in dietary strategies appears among individuals of Indigenous American, African, European and mixed origins and ancestries, probably influenced by the nutritional and epidemiological stress registered in all of these populations. Curt-Engelhorn Center for Archaeometry, Mannheim, Germany Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia Universidad del Norte, Colombia

Summary The recently enriched genomic history of Indigenous groups in the Americas is still meager concerning continental Central America. Here, we report ten pre-Hispanic (plus two early colonial) genomes and 84 genome-wide profiles from seven groups presently living in Panama. Our analyses reveal that pre-Hispanic demographic events contributed to the extensive genetic structure currently seen in the area, which is also characterized by a distinctive Isthmo-Colombian Indigenous component. This component drives these populations on a specific variability axis and derives from the local admixture of different ancestries of northern North American origin(s). Two of these ancestries were differentially associated to Pleistocene Indigenous groups that also moved into South America, leaving heterogenous genetic footprints. An additional Pleistocene ancestry was brought by a still unsampled population of the Isthmus (UPopI) that remained restricted to the Isthmian area, expanded locally during the early Holocene, and left genomic traces up to the present day. Highlights • Ancient Isthmian genomes address anthropological questions on pre-contact burials • The comparison with modern Panamanians highlights genomic structure on the Isthmus • A genomic component drives the Isthmian groups on a distinctive variability axis • A previously unknown Pleistocene ancestry identified in the Isthmo-Colombian area Pre-contact and modern genomes from Panama highlight the distinctiveness of the Isthmo-Colombian area; detail number, source, and impact of Indigenous American genomic ancestries at the continental level; and explain complex pre-Hispanic burials. Graphical abstract

New research dispels the idea that Panama Viejo was initially founded one-half mile from the site of its visible present-day ruins. The archaeological and historical evidence subject to interdisciplinary analysis demonstrates that the city remained on the same main plaza next to its natural port from its foundation five hundred years ago until its destruction in 1671. The data reconsidered and newly uncovered also suggest reasons for previous misinterpretations of the city's early foundational history. Unlike many colonial cities and towns, Panama Viejo did not move during its first century of existence. However, its main church, which became the bishopric's cathedral in 1524, did relocate after 1541. The new evidence establishes and confirms the original location of the first Cathedral on America's Pacific Ocean to the south of Panama Viejo's main plaza, and explains its move to an elevated, rocky area on the eastern side of the same plaza over 20 years later. Excavations undertaken in 2018 have confirmed the original temple's location a mere 50 m from the visible ruins of the cathedral, whose tower remains a symbol of Panamanian identity today. Patronato Panamá Viejo Universidad del Norte

Intentional dental modification is a widespread practice in both ancient and modern populations. In Panama, the modern practice is restricted to the Ngäbe indigenous people inhabiting the western provinces. Several researchers have posited that Ngäbe dental modification evidences cultural transfer of African origin due to the absence of post-contact records of this practice in the region, and based on the chipping technique used to create a pointed tooth shape. In this paper, we collate bioarchaeological data from human remains recovered from pre-contact and early colonial period contexts in Panama to evaluate this hypothesis. The results of our study found no evidence for intentional dental modification among the pre-contact sample, but several instances of artificially modified incisor teeth among the early colonial sample. The latter pertained exclusively to individuals of African ancestry, and whose teeth had been chipped to points in the same manner as reported from Ngäbe communities. Isotope data revealed that one individual was a first-generation immigrant who likely originated from the African continent. Based on these results, as well as an exhaustive review of the ethnohistorical and modern ethnographic literature, the original hypothesis of a late introduction of African origin for the practice of dental shaping among the Ngäbe was upheld. Center for Tropical Paleoecology and Archaeology, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Curt Engelhorn Center of Archaeometry gGmbH (CEZA) Universidad del Norte

Este trabajo analiza los diferentes tipos de violencia en la sociedad panameña de los siglos XVI y XVII en perspectiva interdisciplinar. A través de la combinación de fuentes y métodos arqueológicos e históricos, se perciben unos patrones comunes que indican una tipología de violencia interpersonal cotidiana multiétnica y socialmente transversal. Las fuentes archivísticas y arqueológicas se complementan en esta investigación para dotar de mayor complejidad a una realidad social hasta ahora poco explorada, como es la de la violencia interpersonal en contextos coloniales tempranos. This work analyses the diverse types of violence in Panamanian society over the 16th and 17th centuries from an interdisciplinary perspective. Through a combination of methods and sources from archaeology and history, common patterns emerge and point to a typology of quotidian interpersonal violence that was multiethnic and socially transversal. In this research, archival and archaeological sources complement each other to offer more complexity regarding the social reality of interpersonal violence, which has been understudied in early colonial contexts to date. Instituto Universitario Europeo Universidad del Norte

This article presents a relational database capable of integrating data from a variety of types of written sources as well as material remains. In response to historical research questions, information from such diverse sources as documentary, bioanthropological, isotopic and DNA analyses have been assessed, homogenized, and situated in time and space. Multi-disciplinary ontologies offer complementary and integrated perspectives regarding persons and goods. While responding to specific research questions about the impact of globalization on the isthmus of Panama during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the data model and user interface promote the ongoing interrogation of diverse information about complex, changing societies. To this end, the application designed makes it possible to search, consult and download data that researchers have contributed from anywhere in the world. Departamento de Lenguajes y Sistemas Informáticos, Universidad Pablo de Olavide

Se ha implementado una completa aplicación web [https://artempire.cica.es/] que funciona como interfaz para gestionar una compleja base de datos diseñada a medida para este proyecto. A pesar de que se ha pretendido en todo momento desarrollar una interfaz gráfica lo más intuitiva y sencilla de utilizar, la complejidad del modelo de datos hace que sea necesaria una ayuda para un correcto y completo uso de la misma. Con este documento se pretende que cualquier usuario/a pueda sacar el máximo rendimiento de la aplicación, explicando y detallando todas sus posibilidades y formas de uso, en función del tipo de usuario/a. Departamento de Lenguajes y Sistemas Informáticos, Universidad Pablo de Olavide Departamento de Geografía, Historia y Filosofía, Universidad Pablo de Olavide Centro Informático Científico de Andalucía (CICA) Postprint