Panama Bocas del Toro a Mecca for Science
By Juan Carlos Martinez
Bocas del Toro is renowned for its beautiful beaches and crystalline waters. It has also yielded up a tiny slice of its history. Currently a team of archaeologists is studying a site they call “Sitio Drago” on which they have discovered archaeological remains that seem to indicate Central American tribes at some point settled there.
At the site the archaeologists have found “huacas” dating from 800 – 1400 A.D. Pottery and human remains have also been found. The lead archaeologist is Dr. Thomas Wake, Director of the Zoo-archeology laboratory in the Cotsen Institute of the University of California. The project started in 2007 and is partially funded by SENACYT (the National Secretariat for Science and Technology).
The site is 15 hectares in which there are archaeological remains in burial mounds. Dr. Wake, being assisted by Michael Davies from the University of Kansas, and the Panamanian archaeologist Tomás Mendizabal is also collaborating in the project.
They have so far recovered thousand year old fish scales, beads made out of stingray needles, food remains in broken pottery, shell carvings and even a five foot long crocodile buried vertically. The burial mound seems to be for common burials as there are no offerings interred with the remains. They are approximately 1,000 years old with four caskets made of coral slabs.
The pottery found is quite revealing. Some of it has animal figures, others geometrical figures, some of it is original to Bocas but some is from Coclé, Chiriquí, Costa Rica and Nicaragua which indicates that there was an international exchange network. Some large stone slabs and volcanic stone pieces such as knives and grinding stones were also found.
The project is scheduled to end in February 2011 and is currently open to Panamanian students as well as international students wishing to finalize their careers with fieldwork. Those interested may contact twake@ucla.edu
Bocas del Drago is only 30 minutes by car from the airport in Bocas' Isla Colón. It is said that the peculiar name comes from the roaring sound of the stormy seas from this particular spot that sounded like a dragon roar.
Bocas del Toro not only yields historical gems but natural ones as well for scientists. The coral reef’s are being studied by marine biologists. Students from Northeastern University in Boston are carrying out an investigation on white band disease affecting the coral called Acropora Cervicornis (Deer Horn Coral).
This disease killed 95% of this coral in the Caribbean in the last 20 years. The species in Bocas seems to be immunologically different as it recovers from it. If the molecule that helps the corals in Bocas fight the disease can be isolated then it may provide the answer for stopping the extinction of these corals in other parts of the Caribbean. The study is carried out on Coral Cay in Bocas del Toro.
Another marvel only found in Bocas del Toro is the “Ranitomeya claudiae”, a tiny, poisonous frog. It has only been seen in Bocas del Toro, nowhere else in the world. It measures 12.5 millimeters. The species known to de discovered in the 1980's is only now being studied by biologists from the University of Panama through a grant from SENACYT. These little frogs can live a minimum of 15 years.
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