Coclé Province

Coclé is a province of central Panama on the nation's southern coast. The capital is the city of Penonomé. Coclé is primarily an agricultural area, with sugar and tomatoes as major crops. The province has a number of well known beaches and tourist activity has increased in recent years.

The province is divided in 6 districts. The districts and their capitals are:

• Aguadulce (Aguadulce) is composed by El Roble, Aguadulce, El Cristo, Pocrí, Barrios Unidos
• Antón (Antón)
• La Pintada (La Pintada)
• Natá (Natá)
• Olá (Olá)
• Penonomé (Penonomé)

Pre-Columbian Coclé

During pre-Columbian times, the area of Panama which today includes Coclé province had a number of identifiable native cultures. Archaeologists have loosely designated these cultures by pottery style. The poorly studied La Mula period ranged from 150 BC to AD 300. It was followed by the Tonosi period, from AD 300 to AD 550, and by the Cubita period, from AD 550 to AD 700. A unified Native American culture appears to have flourished in this area from approximately 1200 BC until the 16th century.

Archaeologists working at intervals since the 1920s have uncovered ruins and burials which contain striking artifacts. These include worked gold and other metals, carved bone and whale ivory, textiles, jewelry with semi-precious stones and pottery. Coclé gold work was traded throughout the region, and has been found as far away as Chichen Itza in Yucatán. The large collection of Coclé pre-historic pottery is notable for strong structural design and the use of fish, bird, animal and human figures as decoration.

In the 1920s, at least one major archaeological site, El Caño, was so badly damaged by an unprofessional excavator that much of its history is lost. However, a modest museum on that site displays artifacts and site history. A second site, Sitio Conte, was more professionally explored. A portion of Coclé's archaeological sites have been designated as the Gran Coclé Culture Area. Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, published two major works, in 1937 and 1942 respectively, on later excavations in Coclé.

Reference

• Lothrop, Samuel Kirland. Pre-Columbian Designs from Panama -Illustrations of Coclé Pottery. Dover Publications, Toronto, Canada, 1976. ISBN 0-486-23232-8.