ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN THE 

 PARITA AND SANTA MARIA ZONES OF PANAMA 



By John Ladd 



INTRODUCTION 



GEOGRAPHY 



The geography of Panama is best visualized in terms of the volcanic 

 cordUlera which, running in a generally east-west direction, separates 

 the wet and dense tropical forests of the Caribbean coast from the 

 drier and somewhat more seasonal savannas and hilly areas of the 

 southern watershed. This distinction is somewhat blurred in the 

 corridor of the Canal Zone, but even in Darien to the east, where the 

 Cordillera is lower and more scattered and where dense tropical growth 

 extends to the Pacific shore, the southern coast remains the drier. 



The area between the Santa Maria and Parita Rivers at the base 

 of the Azuero Peninsula lies in the southern hilly and savanna zone 

 which extends westward through southern Veraguas to the low moun- 

 tainous area bordering the Tabasara River. It then continues on as 

 a narrower coastal strip in Chiriqui and southeastern Costa Rica. 

 To the east, from the base of the Peninsula, the zone continues through 

 Code Province until pinched off between Chame Bay and the eastern 

 terminus of the cordUlera at La Campana. Southward, the zone 

 extends with increasing hilliness almost to the end of the Peninsula, 

 where it terminates in mountainous terrain rising to 7,000 feet. 



Disregarding local variation, the rainy season for this zone extends 

 from May through November; the remaining months are hot, dry, 

 and windy. The hillier portions support livestock. Crops, often 

 concentrated in the broader river valleys, include corn, beans, and 

 sugarcane in contrast to the tropical forest of Darien and the Carib- 

 bean coast where manioc and other tubers dominate the agriculture, 

 which, however, includes corn in some quantity. The fauna includes 

 deer and jaguar and smaller mammals such as peccary, coati, arma- 



