La Mula-Sarigua

people. Most settlements in Central Panama before the 1st millennium CE were small, but La Mula-Sarigua was an exception with up to 900 people at 200 BCE. [Hoopes_Peregrine_Ember 2001, p. 101]

People. 'Population estimates are lacking for most of the region, but it seems likelythat the maximum community size prior to 1200 B.P. was no more than a thousand people.' [Hoopes_Peregrine_Ember 2001, p. 102]

levels. 'For the earliest part of the tradition until c. 2300 B.P. [300 BCE], settlements are likely to have been small and loosely organized. An exception to this may have been La Mula/Sarigua in central Panama, which was a substantial community with perhaps as many as 900 people at 2200 B.P. [200 BCE].' [Hoopes_Peregrine_Ember 2001, p. 101]

In the Early Chibcha tradition in general, 'The religious life appears to have been in the hands of mystics and trained specialists.' [Hoopes_Peregrine_Ember 2001, p. 104] However, the evidence Hoopes provides for this in Central Panama specifically seems to come mainly from the succeeding Greater Coclé period, i.e. 'the iconography of goldwork and polychrome ceramics, especially from Sitio Conte ... Individuals with prominent fangs and menacing claws wearing deer antlers on their heads may represent shamans communicating simultaneously the essences of both predators and prey.' [Hoopes_Peregrine_Ember 2001, p. 108] I have left this uncoded until I come across stronger statements that there were trained religious specialists at the La Mula-Sarigua site or contemporaneous settlements in the region. It is also unclear whether such people would be full-time professionals: Hoopes speculates that Early Chibcha shamans may have 'assumed political roles'. [Hoopes_Peregrine_Ember 2001, p. 108] If this was the case, a 'present' code would not be justified here, as ritual duties would be just one aspect of a more general leadership role.

Administrative structures in Central Panama during this period are not well understood, and the evidence for social stratification and centralized decision-making is weak. [Hoopes_Peregrine_Ember 2001] Panamanian societies before Spanish contact produced no written records, [Mendizábal_Archibold 2004, p. 14] so it is not clear how bureaucrats would have performed their duties.

'After 2000 B.P., there is evidence for more highly structured communities, with large dwellings that represent significant investments of labor. Specialized settlements include coastal shellfishing communities,locations for the production of salt, and possibly villages located near areas of gold procurement. In Panama and Colombia, metallurgy and shell working (particularly Spondylus spp.) were probably conducted in the context of workshops.' [Hoopes_Peregrine_Ember 2001, p. 101] Hoopes' reference to 'workshops' in particular implies that some people were specialized artisans in Central Panama at the beginning of the common era. He also writes: 'We have no evidence for specialists in the production of basic subsistence items. However, it is likely that there was specialization in the production of medicinal herbs and sources of fiber, such as cotton.' [Hoopes_Peregrine_Ember 2001, p. 102] However, this is in the context of a general discussion of the Early Chibcha tradition (from Honduras to Venezuela) and he does not give an indication of when exactly this specialization might have developed in Panama: I have coded for uncertainty about the date range.

Administrative structures in Central Panama during this period are not well understood, and the evidence for social stratification and centralized decision-making is weak. [Hoopes_Peregrine_Ember 2001] Panamanian societies before Spanish contact produced no written records, [Mendizábal_Archibold 2004, p. 14] so it is not clear how bureaucrats would have performed their duties.

Administrative structures in Central Panama during this period are not well understood, and the evidence for social stratification and centralized decision-making is weak. [Hoopes_Peregrine_Ember 2001] Panamanian societies before Spanish contact produced no written records, [Mendizábal_Archibold 2004, p. 14] so it is not clear how bureaucrats would have performed their duties.

Administrative structures in Central Panama during this period are not well understood, and the evidence for social stratification and centralized decision-making is weak. [Hoopes_Peregrine_Ember 2001] Panamanian societies before Spanish contact produced no written records, [Mendizábal_Archibold 2004, p. 14] so it is not clear how bureaucrats would have performed their duties.

'Markets are unknown for this [the Early Chibcha] tradition, but there is some evidence for merchants who may have carried gold and tumbaga artifacts.' [Hoopes_Peregrine_Ember 2001, p. 103]

'In some parts of the world [agricultural risk-minimization] was accomplished through infrastructure such as dams and large-scale irrigation canals [...] but there is no evidence for such features among the regions of Central Panama.' [Berrey 2015, p. 207]

For the La Mula Ceramic Phase (200 BCE-250 CE in the chronology Haller uses), 'there is no evidence for any labor investment in civic-ceremonial structures or features as seen at He-4 [El Hatillo] several centuries later'. [Haller 2004, p. 110] Nor does Haller refer to evidence for communal buildings in his discussion of the period from 5000 to 200 BCE. [Haller 2004, pp. 48-53]

For the La Mula Ceramic Phase (200 BCE-250 CE in the chronology Haller uses), 'there is no evidence for any labor investment in civic-ceremonial structures or features as seen at He-4 [El Hatillo] several centuries later'. [Haller 2004, p. 110] Nor does Haller refer to evidence for symbolic buildings in his discussion of the period from 5000 to 200 BCE. [Haller 2004, pp. 48-53]

For the La Mula Ceramic Phase (200 BCE-250 CE in the chronology Haller uses), 'there is no evidence for any labor investment in civic-ceremonial structures or features as seen at He-4 [El Hatillo] several centuries later'. [Haller 2004, p. 110] Nor does Haller refer to evidence for ceremonial sites in his discussion of the period from 5000 to 200 BCE. [Haller 2004, pp. 48-53]

Panamanian societies were non-literate before Spanish contact. [Mendizábal_Archibold 2004, p. 14]

Panamanian societies were non-literate before Spanish contact. [Mendizábal_Archibold 2004, p. 14]

Panamanian societies were non-literate before Spanish contact. [Mendizábal_Archibold 2004, p. 14]

Panamanian societies were non-literate before Spanish contact. [Mendizábal_Archibold 2004, p. 14]

Panamanian societies were non-literate before Spanish contact. [Mendizábal_Archibold 2004, p. 14]

Panamanian societies were non-literate before Spanish contact. [Mendizábal_Archibold 2004, p. 14]

Panamanian societies were non-literate before Spanish contact. [Mendizábal_Archibold 2004, p. 14]

Panamanian societies were non-literate before Spanish contact. [Mendizábal_Archibold 2004, p. 14]

Panamanian societies were non-literate before Spanish contact. [Mendizábal_Archibold 2004, p. 14]

Panamanian societies were non-literate before Spanish contact. [Mendizábal_Archibold 2004, p. 14]

Panamanian societies were non-literate before Spanish contact. [Mendizábal_Archibold 2004, p. 14]

Panamanian societies were non-literate before Spanish contact. [Mendizábal_Archibold 2004, p. 14]

Panamanian societies were non-literate before Spanish contact. [Mendizábal_Archibold 2004, p. 14]

The sources I have consulted do not mention paper currency in Precolumbian Panama.

The sources I have consulted do not mention any form of coinage (either indigenous or foreign) in Precolumbian Panama.

The sources I have consulted do not mention any form of coinage (either indigenous or foreign) in Precolumbian Panama.

Panamanian societies were non-literate before Spanish contact. [Mendizábal_Archibold 2004, p. 14] Because this variable is concerned only with the presence of written (rather than verbal) debt and credit agreements, I have coded absent.

According to Francisco Guerra, '[a] system of standards for volume and length can be established in Nuclear America prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, and, although these standards are not as detailed as those of the Roman system, they seem to have been fairly widespread in their application'. [Guerra 1960, p. 343] ('Nuclear America' refers to the region between central Mexico and the Andes. [Willey 1955, p. 571] ) However, Guerra does not specifically mention the populations of Precolumbian Panama, referring only to the Aztec, Maya, Mixtec, Zapotec, Tarascan and Otomi. [Guerra 1960, p. 344] Moreover, even for the literate and more politically centralized cultures of Mesoamerica to the north, Freidel and Reilly note in a more recent publication that '[t]here is little evidence that the Pre-Columbian Mesoamericans used standardized weights and measures beyond the "vara" of cotton cloth'. [Freidel_et_al 2010] In all, I have been unable to find examples in the literature of good evidence for standardized measures of volume in Precolumbian Central Panama, so have coded 'inferred absent'.

According to Francisco Guerra, '[a] system of standards for volume and length can be established in Nuclear America prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, and, although these standards are not as detailed as those of the Roman system, they seem to have been fairly widespread in their application'. [Guerra 1960, p. 343] ('Nuclear America' refers to the region between central Mexico and the Andes. [Willey 1955, p. 571] ) However, Guerra does not specifically mention the populations of Precolumbian Panama, referring only to the Aztec, Maya, Mixtec, Zapotec, Tarascan and Otomi. [Guerra 1960, p. 344] Moreover, even for the literate and more politically centralized cultures of Mesoamerica to the north, Freidel and Reilly note in a more recent publication that '[t]here is little evidence that the Pre-Columbian Mesoamericans used standardized weights and measures beyond the "vara" of cotton cloth'. [Freidel_et_al 2010] In all, I have been unable to find examples in the literature of good evidence for standardized measures of length in Precolumbian Central Panama, so have coded 'inferred absent'.