MCI Project Summaries 2008 - Smithsonian Institution

MCI 6100.2 Technology of Pre-Columbian Gold in Panama: A Study of
Fabrication and Compositional Analysis—Smithsonian collections
MCI Staff: Harriet (Rae) F. Beaubien, Ainslie Harrison, R. Jeff Speakman, Nicole C. Little, Judy
Watson, Ron H. Cunningham
Pre-Columbian gold artifacts have long been appreciated for their complex technologies
and impressive craftsmanship. Yet, Panama’s contribution to this rich heritage is not well
understood, despite its apparent role in the dispersal of goldworking technology from northern
South America, where it first emerged, eventually spreading to Mesoamerican and central
Mexican regions. By about 200 CE, the technology had reached the Isthmus, and the early
goldwork found in Panama shows a close connection to that of metalworking centers in
Colombia. Over time, however, a splendid local style developed, epitomized by the impressive
gold adornments of high-status males buried at the Sitio Conte cemetery, dating from between
700 and 1000 CE; many centuries later, ornaments similar to these were described by the
Spaniards related to a chieftain’s burial.
While metalworking production in neighboring centers of Central and South America has
received considerable attention, no systematic study has been carried out with a focus on its long
history in Panama. To bridge this gap, the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute (MCI)
initiated a broad investigation of Pre-Columbian Panamanian goldworking from a technological
perspective, bringing together the perspectives and skills of the conservator, conservation
scientist, and archaeologist. In partnership with colleagues from participating institutions, over
1000 gold objects have been studied to date in collections belonging to the Museo Antropológico
Reina Torres de Araúz in Panama City, the country’s premier museum of its kind (during the
first research phase in 2007); the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and
National Museum of the American Indian, in Washington, DC; and the Smithsonian Tropical
Research Institute in Panama City, which is curating finds from several recent excavations in
Panama.
New data about alloy composition, forming and finishing techniques are being generated
using non-destructive analytical techniques, including optical microscopy, portable x-ray
fluorescence spectroscopy, digital radiography, and energy dispersive x-ray analysis coupled
with scanning electron microscopy. These data are expected to lend significant support, along
with iconographic, archaeological and ethnohistoric lines of evidence, to the development and
testing of hypotheses about the origins, development and regional relationships of goldworking
in Panama.
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