10 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 191 



of the area in question. Unfortunately, however, Sosa does not give 

 the reference from which he derived this account. Carles (1960), too, 

 locates Malambo to the northeast but also gives no references and 

 presumably took some of his material from the Sosa report. 



The Canal Zone Library possesses a copy of a late 18th-century map 

 which is a modification of the original Roda map with additions of 

 the later structures. It is used herein, with permission, as map 1, 

 as it affords a good view of the entire site. It places Malambo on 

 the other side of the trail and marks the present area of investigation 

 as "dense tropical jungle, quagmires and swamp." Unfortunately, 

 the name of the map's maker is obscured and no further references 

 are available. Quite possibly the references of Sosa and, later. Carles, 

 were to this map. Much later Shafroth prepared a map, which is 

 also in the Canal Zone Library and forms a portion of his book (Sha- 

 froth, 1953), describing Malambo as being directly over the areas 

 of investigation. He gives no reference for this location and, in 

 addition, places the Rio Gallinero under the Bang's Bridge and the Rio 

 Algarrobo to the far west, whereas Sosa and Carles interchange these 

 names. 



At least one investigator of this site (Smith, 1960) suggests the 

 remains belong to those Indians present at the site before the first 

 Spanish occupation. Definite information will not be available with- 

 out radiocarbon dates or at least stratigraphic links with adjacent 

 cultm*es, but, as will be seen from the discussion to follow, the ceramic 

 relationship to other finds in Panama even at this early stage of knowl- 

 edge would tend to indicate a tentative date of at least 400 years 

 prior to the first Spanish settlement. It is my contention that this 

 archeological site represents a new culture to be reported from Panama 

 and that it existed in the period immediately preceding the Code 

 polychrome period. The site was abandoned, reclaimed by tropical 

 jungle until the period of Spanish occupation, again "lost," and only 

 rediscovered during the leveling operations in 1958. 



THE SITE 



(Map 2) 



DESCRIPTION 



The area investigated measured approximately 500X1,000 yards. 

 This portion was discovered when preparations were made to expand 

 the adjacent cemetery and the earth was cleared of growth by means of 

 heavy earth-moving machinery. During the leveling operations, 

 multiple burial urns were torn through and redistributed across the 

 surface. The land is a densely overgrown tropical semiswamp which 

 remains fairly dry during the months of December through May but, 



