Mikael Haller's 2004 dissertation, "The Emergence and Development of Chiefly Societies in the Río Parita Valley, Panama," is one of several now available for download in PDF format from the University of Pittsburgh library via the following link:

etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/ava...4-135525

Another that may also be of interest is that of Florencio German Delgado-Espinoza, "Intensive Agriculture and Political Economy of the Yaguachi Chiefdom of Guayas Basin, Coastal Ecuador" (2002):

etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/ava...2-141659

In addition to "Gold and Power", Dumbarton Oaks has also published a number of other monographs online, including:

"Ecology and the Arts in Ancient Panama: On the Development of Social Rank and Symbolism in the Central Provinces," by Olga F. Linares (an electronic reissue)
www.doaks.org/ecology.pdf

"Archaeology of Formative Ecuador," J. Scott Raymond & Richard L. Burger, eds.
www.doaks.org/RAEC.html

"Dumbarton Oaks Conference on the Olmec," Elizabeth P. Benson, ed. (an electronic reissue)
www.doaks.org/olmec.html

Other information about Precolumbian Studies at Dumbarton Oaks can be found at their website:

www.doaks.org/Pre-Columbian.html

Meritxell Tous Mata's 2002 doctoral dissertation, "De la gran Nicoya precolombina a la provincia de Nicaragua, s. XV y XVI" is available online in PDF format:

www.tdx.cesca.es/TESIS_UB/...SINTRO.pdf

From the "Arqueología Nicaragua" page at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona:

seneca.uab.es/arqueologia-nicaragua

Gassiot Ballbè, Ermengol, Ivan Briz Godino e Ignacio Clemente Conte
"Asentamiento y sociedad durante el periodo preclásico en la casta atlántica de Nicaragua"
seneca.uab.es/arqueologia...amientos.htm

Gassiot Ballbè, Ermengol
¿Sobre-explotación del medio en la prehistoria?
Arqueomalacología de los concheros del litoral caribe de Nicaragua: explotación y consumo de moluscos acuáticos a partir de 1,400-1,200 cal AC
seneca.uab.es/arqueologia...delmedio.htm

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Rodríguez Cuenca, José Vicente
"Los Chibchas: Pobladores Antiguos de los Andes Orientales - Aspectos Bioantropológicos"
www.colciencias.gov.co/seiaal...c04.htm

A fascinating new issue, with lots to discuss!

"La mirada contemporánea se plantea nuevas preguntas acerca de la arqueología y la antropología. ¿Cómo se concibe lo arqueológico en las culturas campesinas, o entre los indígenas? ¿Cómo lo entienden los niños? ¿Un cazador-recolector es alguien que perseguía mamuts hace 12.000 años, o bien alguien que ocupa su curul ante un Parlamento, en representación de la quinta parte del territorio del Canadá?"

Please access this publication via links from the main Museo del Oro (Bogotá) website at:

www.banrep.gov.co/museo/home4.htm

I just learned that Yale University Press is selling "Jade in Ancient Costa Rica," a beautiful catalogue from an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, for only US$9.95 + US$4.50 shipping. This is a good price for such an attractive and comprehensive publication (which elsewhere sells for US$34.00)!

yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/viewbook.asp

This website on the work of Carl V. Hartman, the first curator of ethnology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh and pioneer archaeologist in Costa Rica, is a wonderful online resource (with an excellent bibliography):

www.carnegiemnh.org/anthro/h...index.php

Thanks to David Watters & Co. for putting it together!

This website is an amazing online archive of all of the materials at the University Museum at Penn that pertain to J. Alden Mason's 1940 expedition to Sitio Conte:

www.museum.upenn.edu/SitioCo...dex.html

I reviewed it (pp. 30-33) in the May 2001 issue of The SAA Archaeological Record:

www.saa.org/publications...Rec/may01.pdf

A comprehensive bibliography of the late Colombian archaeologist Luís Duque Gómez has been compiled by Carlos Andrés Barragán for the current issue of the Boletín del Museo del Oro in Bogotá. It is an excellent source of references for research on San Agustín and other related topics.

BARRAGÁN, Carlos Andrés. 2003. In Memoriam. Obra bibliográfica del antropólogo Luis Duque Gómez. Boletín Museo del Oro 51. Ene-dic. Bogotá: Banco de la República.

www.banrep.gov.co/museo/esp.../duque.htm

(A version in PDF format is also available for download.)

De quimbaya.banrep.gov.co/tabmuseo

Con motivo de la exposición «Los Espíritus, el Oro y el Chamán», que tuvo lugar en las Galerias Nacionales del Grand Palais en París, organizada por el Museo del Oro del Banco de la República de Colombia y la Reunión de Museos Nacionales de Francia, con la colaboración del Musée du Quai Branly, se organizó el coloquio científico «Chamanismo y Sacrificio» en el Colegio de Francia en el mes de abril del año 2000. El coloquio retomó los temas derivados del estudio e interpretación de los objetos de la colección del Museo del Oro presentados en la exposición, se interrogó sobre la relación entre chamanismo y sacrificio, las dimensiones sacrificiales del chamanismo, los mecanismos rituales de curación chamánica, concepciones y representaciones culturales del cuerpo humano, y por supuesto, el tema central de la exposición, la relación entre la orfebrería prehispánica y el chamanismo.

Este libro publicado por la Fundación de Investigaciones Arqueológicas Nacionales del Banco de la República y el Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos reúne las ponencias presentadas en el marco de este evento, que convocó diversos y destacados arqueólogos y etnólogos europeos y latinoamericanos.

Contenido

Presentación

Jean-Pierre Chaumeil, Roberto Pineda Camacho y Jean-FrançoisBouchard

Sacrificios y chamanismo en la cultura Tumaco-La Tolita (Colombia y Ecuador)
Jean-François Bouchard


Plantas amazónicas, caminos y relaciones
Inés Cavelier Franco

¿Retratos de chamanes o de ancestros míticos?
Anne Legast

Sacrificio y ofrenda entre los muiscas
Roberto Lleras Pérez

Sacrificios y calendario ceremonial en las sociedades de los Andes centrales
Anne Marie Hocquenghem

Chamanismo y sacrificio en Real Alto: antecedentes del ritual andino en el formativo temprano del antiguo Ecuador
Jorge Gabriel Marcos Pino

Ritos de sacrificio e iniciación entre los muiscas. Simbología política en el norte de los Andes
François Correa

El surgimiento de la rutinización religiosa: los orígenes de los tairona-koguis
Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo

Un «método de asimilación». Sobre la noción de transformación en unas culturas sudamericanas
Jean-Pierre Chaumeil

¿Cómo llegar a ser un astro? Orfebrería y escatología
Dimitri Karadimas

¿Unos objetos chamánicos «sacrificados»?
Michel Perrin

Bajo el imperio del antropófago. Las casas caníbales y los sacrificios humanos entre los uitotos de la Amazonía colombiana
Roberto Pineda Camacho

Artefactos cosmológicos: inferencias de la memoria chamánica amerindia de la Sierra Nevada y Amazonas de Colombia
Elizabeth Reichel D.

Las máscaras de la memoria. Ensayo sobre la función de las pinturas corporales jívaro
Anne-Christine Taylor

Chamanismo y sacrificio: un comentario amazónico
Eduardo Viveiros de Castro

Some papers about Panamanian Archaeology:

www.geocities.com/CollegePa...ence/3863/
striweb.si.edu/cooke/

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A new book on the stone balls of Costa Rica:

Thiemer-Sachse, Ursula (2005) Un asunto redondo: Reflexiones sobre las sociedades autóctonas en la región del Diquís / Costa Rica y Panamá durante los últimos siglos antes de la conquista española y la importancia de las famosas bolas de piedra. Berliner Lateinamerika-Forschungen 16. Frankfurt: Vervuert Verlag & Madrid: Iberoamericana.

It can be purchased online at the following URLs:

tinyurl.com/dozdg
tinyurl.com/besvx
tinyurl.com/b3usc
tinyurl.com/89umf

I just realized I'd been remiss in mentioning an excellent article by Richard Cooke that appeared last summer:

Cooke, Richard (2005) Prehistory of Native Americans on the Central American Land Bridge: Colonization, Dispersal, and Divergence. Journal of Archaeological Research 13(2): 129-187.

Abstract : The Central American land bridge has served as a passageway for animals and humans moving between North and South America. Nevertheless, after the first waves of human immigration at the end of the Pleistocene, contact between the native peoples who remained on this isthmus and other peoples living in continental areas where civilization ultimately developed, is characterized, according to the field record, by the transfer of crops, technologies, and goods, until ca.1400 BP when speakers of Mesoamerican languages occupied the northwestern edge (Gran Nicoya). The ancestors of modern-day speakers of Chibchan and Chocoan languages underwent social and cultural diversification mostly within the confines of the land bridge. Some Precolumbian residents altered vegetation immediately after first arrival at least 11,000 years ago, and began to add domesticated crops to their subsistence inventory between 9000 and 7000 BP. Maize and manioc (or cassava), domesticated outside the land bridge, were introduced in Preceramic times, early in the period between 7000 and 4500 BP, and gradually dominated regional agriculture as they became more productive, and as human populations increased and spread into virgin areas. Diversity in material culture is visible ca. 6000 BP, and becomes more apparent after the introduction of pottery ca. 4500 BP. By 2000 BP culture areas with distinctive artifact inventories are discernible. Between 2500 and 1300 BP hierarchies among regions, sites, social groups, and individuals point to the establishment of chiefdoms whose elite members came to demand large numbers of costume and sumptuary goods. A few special centers with stone sculptures and low-scale architecture served a social universe larger than the chiefdom, such as clusters of recently fissioned social groups with memories of a common heritage. Social interactions on the land bridge, endowed with productive bottomlands, highland valleys, and coastal habitats, appear always to have been strongest among neighboring groups.

www.springerlink.com/(2jnevc...tion.asp

This, together with my article in the previous (March 2005) issue of the JAR, should provide everyone with a wealth of resources to fuel ideas and research for some time to come. Thanks, Richard!

I learned about some new publications at the symposium in Costa Rica last week:

The Pre-Hispanic Populations of the Santa Marta Bays: A Contribution to the Study of the Development of the Northern Colombian Tairona Chiefdoms/Poblamiento prehispánico de las bahías de Santa Marta: contribución al Estudio del Desarrolo de los cacicazgos tairona del norte de Colombia, by Carl Henrik Langebaek (Universidad de los Andes & University of Pittsburgh, 2005). (A bilingual edition!) I have only skimmed this so far, but it looks like a wonderful followup to Mason's seminal work in the 1920s and subsequent research, with important theoretical contributions documentation of settlement patterns, ceraramics, and the local chronology.

Artesanos y piedras: Herramientos y escultura precolombina en Costa Rica/Craftsmen & Stones: Pre-Columbian Stone Tools and Sculpture in Costa Rica, by Patricia Fernández and Guillermo E. Alvarado (Fundación Museos del Banco Central, San José, Costa Rica, 2006). (Also a bilingual edition!) This is a beautifully illustrated book with good discussions of lithic raw materials and techniques from early chipped stone industries of the Paleoindian period through the elaborate sculpture of late Prehispanic chiefdoms.

Oí decir del Usékar, by María Eugenia Bozzoli, Editorial Universidad Estatal a Distancia, San José, Costa Rica, 2006). This is a small (< 100 pp.) gem of much-anticipated documentation published just last month. It presents a compilation of virtually all known historic information on the usékars, or high-ranking shamans, of the Bribri-Cabécar of eastern Costa Rica.

Cristóbal Gnecco, from Colombia, told me that the next issue of the journal he edits with Victor Gon, Arqueología del Area Intermedia, dedicated to the Chibchan area, will be in print by next month.

www.icanh.gov.co/secciones...s/raai.htm

Gnecco and González are currently in the final stages of producing the book Arqueología del Area Intermedia, which should be in print early next year.

All of the titles mentioned should be available in the U.S. through the University of Pittsburgh's excellent Latin American Arqueology Publications:

www.pitt.edu/~laap/

One of the most fascinating presentations at last week's UCR-MNCR symposium on relations between southern Central America and northern South America was a paper by Reniel Rodríguez (University of Florida) and Antonio Curet (Field Musuem) on contact between the Greater Antilles and the Isthmo-Colombian area. This work drew upon research that appears in a recent publication from Puerto Rico:

Chanlatte Baik, Luís y Yvonne Narganes Storde (2005) Cultura La Hueca: Finca Sorcé, barrio La Hueca, Vieques. Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras.

This is a beautifully illustrated report, with high quality photographs of objects of jade, ceramic, stone, and shell from the La Hueca culture.

This publication can be obtained from the Museo de Antropología, Historia y Arte at the Universidad de Puerto Rico:

upracd.upr.clu.edu:9090/~human...eoe.htm

More information on the La Hueca culture and other indigenous cultures of Puerto Rico can be found online at:

www.universia.pr/culturain...2_esp.html (Spanish)
www.universia.pr/culturain...2_ing.html (English)

www.universia.pr/culturain...index.html (Spanish)www.universia.pr/culturain...x_ing.html (English)

A new article concerning the prehistoric use of raffia palms at Sitio Drago, Bocas del Toro, Panama is available at:

caribjsci.org/april06/42_11-19.pdf

A valuable new book!

The Title: The Chibchan Languages
Published: 2007
Publisher: Editorial Tecnologica de Costa Rica www.itcr.ac.cr/editorial
Author: J. Diego Quesada
Paperback: ISBN: 9977661863 Pages: 262 Price: U.S. $ 30.00
Comment: Does not include shipping

Abstract:

Relatively little is known about the languages spoken at the heart of the
American continent, at least in the English-speaking (and hence most
widespread) linguistic literature. As a result, confusion about the
typological, areal and even genetic relationships existing among those
languages and language families is rampant. The languages of Central
America are more often than not regarded as residual languages of either
Mesoamerica or Amazonia, the surrounding linguistic areas of Central and
northern South America, respectively; and within this tradition, the name
Chibchan has played the role of a "ragbag"; the terms Macro-Chibchan,
Chibchan-Paezan among others represent a case in point. Thus, in the past,
languages as disparate as Paez (Ecuador), Tarasco (Mexico), isolate Warao
(Venezuela), as well as members of other language families (e.g. Carib or
Aztec), and even languages from as far as Chile (e.g. Atacama) or Argentina
(e.g. Allentiac) have been given the label of "Chibchan". Such an
easy-going attitude shows not only the lack of a strong Chibchan
linguistics tradition, but, especially, the need for an up to date,
coherent, and modern linguistics-oriented description of this language family.

Prefaced by W. Adelaar (University of Leiden), the book offers a thorough
presentation of the Chibchan family of languages, with data from all living
members of the family, plus extinct Muisca. Chapter 1, The Chibchan
languages in areal perspective, introduces this language family in its
wider areal dimension, a necessary step given the widespread ignorance in
the mainstream literature about both the family per se and its areal
affiliation. Chapters 2 and 3, The languages of Central America and The
languages of Colombia (and Venezuela), respectively, offer a thorough
description of the main structural features of these languages. Each of
these chapters opens with a brief description of the main phonological
aspects, followed by a comparative description of morphological (e.g. word
classes, nominal and verbal categories) and syntactic (word order,
grammatical relations, syntactic operations) patterns. The division of the
family into Central America and Colombia has to do with important
differences that recent archaeological, anthropological and linguistic
research has established between these two geographic zones of the Chibchan
world. Chapter 4, Relevant topics in Chibchan linguistics, treats in
considerable detail three of the most relevant themes of Chibchan:
ergativity, participant-highlighting (how prominence is expressed in
Chibchan), and intermittent marking of grammatical categories. Chapter 5
wraps up the conclusions of the book in terms of the likely relation
between the lack of prominence of grammatical relations and the wealth of
participant-encoding and highlighting strategies.

From delacruz.csse.unimelb.edu.au/lin...html

The latest issue (No. 6, Año 2007) of the journal Arqueología del Area Intermedia, edited by Cristóbal Gnecco and Victor González, is focused on the theme of Chibchan archaeology:

www.icanh.gov.co/secciones...aai_07.htm

This special issue was prepared by Ron Lippi and Alejandra Gudiño based on papers presented at the 2003 annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The articles are:

Rompiendo los límites en el Área Intermedia: hacia una nueva síntesis macro-Chibcha.
Ronald D. Lippi y Alejandra M. Gudiño.

Gordon R. Willey y el Área Intermedia: conceptos, contribuciones y perspectivas.
Frederick W. Lange.

El proceso de domesticación: revalorización de los principales componentes del "formativo" en el centro y noroeste de Sudamérica.
John Edward Staller.

Interaccionar o no interaccionar: el Área Intermedia, el Área Circumcaribe y las Antillas mayores.
L. Antonio Curet.

Intercambio interregional, conexiones externas y estrategias de poder en el oriente de Honduras durante los períodos V y VI.
Christopher Begley.

Atravesando fronteras y explorando la iconografía sagrada de los antiguos chibchas en Centroamérica meridional y Colombia septentrional.
John W. Hoopes.

¿Cuestión de límites? El no-lugar de Venezuela en la arqueología del Área Intermedia.
Rafael Gassón y Erika Wagner.

Secuencias y procesos.
Estudio comparativo del desarrollo de jerarquías de asentamiento prehispánicas en el norte de Suramérica.
Carl Langeback Rueda.

La expansión de las poblaciones barbacoas en el noroeste de Ecuador.
Ronald D. Lippi.

Cultura, interacción y contacto en el Área Intermedia: re-enmarcando la cuestión de las delimitaciones culturales.
Tamara L. Bray.

A major recent article on Chibchan genetics:

Melton PE, I. Briceño, A. Gómez, J. Bernal, EJ Devor and MH Crawford (2007) "The biological relationship between Central and South American Chibchan speaking populations: evidence from mtDNA" American Journal of Physical Anthropology, May;133(1):753-70

Abstract
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez

PDF
www.people.ku.edu/~pmelton/..._mtDNA.pdf

An important recent article on Chibchan navigation:

Richard T. Callaghan and Warwick Bray (2007) Simulating Prehistoric Sea Contacts between Costa Rica and Colombia. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, Volume 2, Issue 1 January 2007 , pages 4 - 23.

Abstract
Computer simulations of prehistoric voyaging are used to examine direct cultural contacts and possible movements of people between the Caribbean Coast of Colombia and Costa Rica. Contact is recognized archaeologically in the first millennium BC. Between about AD 200 and AD 800/900, and in the succeeding Tairona period of Colombia (ninth century to Spanish conquest), the closest cultural similarities are seen in Costa Rica and Colombia with less similarity occurring in the intervening regions. Artifact assemblages suggest direct contacts between the two regions. Direct, open-sea voyages between Costa Rica and the Tairona region are simulated. The following questions are asked. (1) Are such voyages feasible, and under what condition? (2) Could they have been made in both directions? Should we think of planned and continuous contacts or of a one-way migration, accidental, or deliberate? If the latter, in which direction? The simulated voyages demonstrate that it is feasible to drift accidentally from the Tairona region to Costa Rica. Intentional voyages from the Tairona region to Costa Rica can be accomplished almost year round; the same is true from Costa Rica. The simulation does not provide an explanation for the archaeological patterning, but it is consistent with strong contact between Costa Rica and the Tairona region, and some contact in-between.
www.informaworld.com/smpp/co...type=rss

Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology
www.tandf.co.uk/journals/t...5564894.asp

I contributed a chapter on trophy head taking in ancient Costa Rica in this new edited volume on a fascinating topic:

Chacon, Richard J.; Dye, David H., eds. (2007) The Taking and Displaying of Human Body Parts as Trophies by Amerindians. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Springer.
www.springer.com/west/home

My contribution is titled "Sorcery and Trophy Head Taking in Ancient Costa Rica"

A new publication of treasures from the archives:

Diario de Arqueología de José Fidel Tristán, edited by Myrna Rojas Garro and Gabriela Villalobos Madrigal, San José, C.R., Museo Nacional de Costa Rica

José Fidel Tristán (1874-1932) was one of the unsung pioneers of Costa Rican archaeology. Following the lead of Anastacio Alfaro and influenced by the work of Carl Hartman, Tristán assembled collections of antiquities and undertook asystematic excavations in the Central Highlands in the early part of the 20th century. Although he had limited scientific training in archaeology, Tristán documented his work between 1931 and 1931 with diaries and photographs that are reproduced in this historic publication. Significant collections at the National Museum resulted from his work, some of which was conducted together with María Fernández de Tinoco.

This 120 p. softcover publication, a valuable contribution to the history of archaeology, is available from the National Museum of Costa Rica, Apartado 749-1000, San José, C.R.

Two new publications for archaeologists, museum professionals, and the general public:

Manual de procedimientos básicos contra el trífico ilícito de bienes culturales (2007)

Museos centroamericanos: Aportes para una oferta pertinente (2007)

These small but important manuals, edited by members of the Executive Committee of the Red Centroamericano de Museos (REDCAMPUS), have been published in Guatemala with support from REDCAMPUS, Asdi (Sweden), and the Historiska Museet (Sweden). The first is a guide to controlling the illegal export of cultural patrimony of all kinds and the second is a discussion of standards for museum practice, including issues of administration, collection management, research, exhibitions, and public education.

The members of the Executive Committee of REDCAMPUS are:

Dr. John Morris - Director of Education and Research of the Institute of Archaeology, Belize
Dr. Francisco Corrales - Director of the National Museum, Costa Rica
Arq. Lily Lemus de Baños - National Museum Coordinator, El Salvador
Ma. Arq. Brenda Janeth Porras Godoy - National Museum Coordinator, Guatemala
Sra. Teresa de Campos - Director of the Museum of Anthropology and History, San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Arq. Ayzel Palacios - Dept. of Urban Conservation and Councilwoman of the National Office of Cultural Patrimony, Nicaragua
Arq. Marcelina Godoy - Subdirector of Historical Patrimony, Panama
Arq. Sandra Alarcón, General Coordinator

There's a beautiful new book from Clemencia Plazas that presents a comprehensive catalogue and commentary on the "Bat-Man" in Pre-Columbian art of the Isthmo-Colombian area:

Plazas, Clemencia (2007) Vuelo nocturno : el murciélago prehispánico del Istmo centroamericano y su comparación con el murciélago tairona. Bogotá : Fundación de Investigaciones Arqueológicas Nacionales (FIAN) ; México, D.F. : Centro de Estudios Mexicanos y Centroamericanos (CEMCA).
ISBN: 9789589825204 (pbk.) 9589825206 (pbk.)
siris-libraries.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp

"Se presenta un riguroso análisis iconográfico del murciélago en piezas procedentes de Costa Rica y Panamá y su relación con las Tairona de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, detectadas en más de treinta colecciones del mundo. Esta ampliamente ilustrado con dibujos que resaltan las características de las piezas analizadas, incluye además tablas donde se resumen los rasgos iconográficos de cada objeto para entender el método de análisis utilizado."