Central and South America are filled with snippets of time that thrived before the Spanish Conquest. Whether that is the Maya civilisation or the Aztecs, each society had its own set of rules and architectural techniques, much of which remains hidden deep within the continent’s various jungles.
It is this last point that has left much of their historical record undiscovered and is something archaeologists are working hard to uncover.
Researchers were in high spirits, then, when they recently unearthed an ancient tomb filled with a remarkable collection of gold artefacts.
Deemed to be of “priceless” and “incalculable” historical and cultural value, they offer a rare glimpse into the pre-Hispanic world and the unusual traditions that quickly died out with the arrival of Europeans.
The tomb was found at the archaeological site of El Caño in Panama, a country which connects South and Central America.
The site is known to be the home of a necropolis belonging to the pre-Hispanic Gran Coclé culture, who lived in the region from 200 BC to 1550.
Constructed at some point in the year 700, it was abandoned in 1000 for reasons not entirely known.
The Gran Coclé are known for their artistic style and mass production of objects that have been found across the country, especially around Coclé Province where the necropolis was found.
At the site and inside the tomb, archaeologists came across several relics including ceramics and a hoard of gold items.
Among them were two belts made from spherical gold beads, four bracelets, two earrings moulded into the shape of a man and a woman, an earring modelled on a crocodile, another five earrings made of sperm whale teeth with dazzling gold sheaths covering them, bells and a set of circular gold plates, Panama’s Ministry of Culture reported.
Other objects included an artefact crafted from dog teeth and a set of flutes made from bones.
Linette Montenegro, national director of heritage with the Ministry of Culture, described the haul as possessing “incalculable” historical and cultural value.
Through their work, the researchers concluded that the tomb likely belonged to a high-status adult male, something like a ‘great lord’, according to Julia Mayo, director of the El Caño Foundation and the archaeological project that has been overseeing work at the site since 2008.
