Beneath the Surface: Life, Death and Gold in Ancient Panama at the Penn Museum |
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March 3, 2015, Volume 61, No. 25 |
For more than a thousand years, a cemetery on the banks of the Rio Grande Coclé in Panama lay undisturbed, escaping the attention of gold seekers and looters. The river flooded in 1927, scattering beads of gold along its banks. In 1940, a Penn Museum team led by archaeologist J. Alden Mason excavated at the cemetery, unearthing spectacular finds—large golden plaques and pendants with animal-human motifs, precious and semi-precious stone, ivory and animal bone ornaments and literally tons of detail-rich painted ceramics. It was extraordinary evidence of a sophisticated Precolumbian people, the Coclé, who lived, died and painstakingly buried their dead long ago.
Beneath the Surface: Life, Death & Gold in Ancient Panama at the Penn Museum invites visitors to dig deeper, exploring the history, archaeological evidence and new research perspectives in search of a greater understanding of the Coclé people, who lived from about 700 to 900 CE. Video footage from the original Sitio Conte excavation, video kiosks with opportunities to “meet” and hear from a range of experts, a centerpiece “burial” with interactive touchscreens—and more than 200 objects from the famous excavation—provide an immersive experience. The exhibition runs through November 1.
One massive burial, named “Burial 11” by the excavators, yielded the most extraordinary materials from the excavation. Believed to be that of a Paramount Chief, it contained 23 individuals in three distinct layers, accompanied by a vast array of grave objects. A to-scale installation of the burial serves as the exhibition’s centerpiece, drawing visitors beneath the surface of the site. The re-creation features many artifacts displayed in the actual positions they were found, as well as digital interactive stations for further exploration.
About the Site
The site of Sitio Conte is located about 100 miles southwest of Panama City. When golden grave goods were exposed on the banks of the Rio Grande de Coclé, the Conte family, owners of the land, invited scientific excavation. The Peabody Museum of Harvard University carried out the first investigations in the 1930s. In the spring of 1940, J. Alden Mason, then curator in Penn Museum’s American Section, led a Penn Museum team to carry out three months of excavations.
Diary entries, drawings, photographs and color film from the excavations set the story of the research in time and place. New excavations in Panama, most recently at nearby El Caño, conservation work and laboratory analyses, and ongoing research on Coclé and neighboring Precolumbian cultures add to a growing body of knowledge, told through short interviews with Penn Museum and outside experts.
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Whale ivory and gold crocodile pendants, Sitio Conte, Panama, ca. 700-900 CE. Photos by the Penn Museum. |
Coclé Culture and Society
Long overshadowed by research on other indigenous Central and South American peoples, the Coclé remain mysterious, but archaeologists, physical anthropologists, art historians and other specialists are drawing on the materials they have excavated to tell more. The rich iconography, sophisticated gold working technologies and craftsmanship, exacting placement of bodies and materials in the burials: all offer clues about the world view, artistic style and social hierarchy of the Coclé.
The art and artifacts uncovered from Burial 11 and throughout the Sitio Conte cemetery were rich in cultural meaning and utilitarian value, and Beneath the Surface uses them to begin to create a portrait of the Coclé people. Central to exhibition curator Clark Erickson’s vision of “peopling the past” is a contemporary rendering of the central burial’s Paramount Chief; he stands replete with some of the golden pendants, arm cuffs and plaques, exquisitely crafted and worthy of a great warrior, which he wore to his grave.
Though not identified as direct descendants of the Coclé, many indigenous groups continue to live in Panama and in the region of Sitio Conte today. A small section of the exhibition provides visitors with an opportunity to see contemporary Kuna clothing that echoes some of the design forms and styles of ancient Coclé pottery, pendants and gold.
Throughout, visitors can explore the evidence and encounter new perspectives on who these people were and how they lived.
Dr. Clark Erickson, curator-in-charge, American section, is the exhibition’s lead curator, working with co-curator Dr. Lucy Fowler Williams, associate curator and Sabloff Keeper of the American section; William Wierzbowski, American section keeper; and a team of undergraduate student assistant curators, Monica Fenton, Sarah Parkinson and Ashley Terry of the University of Pennsylvania and Samantha Seyler of New College, Florida, who provided additional collections and research support. Kate Quinn, director of exhibitions and public programs, leads the exhibition interpretation and design, working with Christine Locket and Associates (interpretive planning), Alusive Design (exhibition design) and Bluecadet (multimedia design). The exhibition fabrication is provided by Art Guild, Berry and Homer Printing and the Penn Museum Preparation Department, led by Ben Neiditz, chief preparator.
Beneath the Surface: Life, Death and Gold in Ancient Panama is made possible with generous support from the Selz Foundation, lead underwriter, the Manning Family Exhibitions Fund, the Susan Drossman Sokoloff and Adam D. Sokoloff Exhibitions Fund and A. Bruce and Margaret Mainwaring. Global Arena is the language services partner.
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A ceramic polychrome plate with turtle iconography from Sitio Conte, 700 to 900 CE. Photos by the Penn Museum. |
Upcoming Events Related to the Beneath the Surface Exhibition
• Sunday, March 8, 1 p.m.; Re-Interpreting an Old Dig: Sitio Conte and the Penn Museum; Clark Erickson, Curator-in-Charge, American Section.
• Sunday, April 12, 1 p.m.; Animals at Sitio Conte: Beneath the Surface and the Living World All Around;Katherine Moore, Mainwaring Teaching Specialist.
• Sunday, April 12, 1-4 p.m.; Family Second Sunday Workshop, Panamanian Gold. Explore the Museum’s new exhibition. Take inspiration from the artifacts in the exhibition and work with foil to etch your own gold plaque to take home. Free with Museum admission.
• Wednesday, April 15, 6-9:30 p.m., P.M. @ Penn Museum, Gold Diggers; this after-work event offers a chance to experience the marvelous objects in the new exhibition—combined with a full schedule of gallery tours, 60-second lectures, pottery painting and more. $20; $15, Penn Museum members and PennCard holders (includes one free drink for guests 21 and older).
• Wednesday, April 22, 6 p.m., Special Guest Evening Lecture—El Caño: Excavations at an Elite Precolumbian Cemetery in Panama;Julia Mayo, Panamanian archaeologist (talk in Spanish with English translator). Free with Museum admission.
• Wednesday, April 29, 6 p.m., Curator’s Lecture on Beneath the Surface; Clark Erickson discusses the excavation and spectacular finds of the Precolumbian cemetery of Sitio Conte (Members Only).
• Sunday, May 10, 1 p.m.; Beneath the Skin: The Skeleton Within;Janet Monge, keeper and curator-in-charge, physical anthropology section.
• Sunday, June 14, 1 p.m.; Focus on Conservation;Julia Lawson, Museum Conservator.
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