Darién Profundo

A journey through the dense jungles of Darién! First step: hop in our field hãp’a (canoe, in the Emberá language)!

Timeline

Brief timeline of some highlights, which you’ll see elsewhere in the text:

11,000 BCE

First evidence of Indigenous Panamanians, mostly stone tools and modified animal bones found in coastal rock shelters, as well as forest management through burning.

First evidence of domestication, which corresponds to a shift in forest management strategies.

5,000 BCE

2,000 BCE

First evidence of pottery production, tied to sedentism, agricultural intensification, and food storage.

Introduction

Billboard on the side of the road in Darién, created by the Panamanian paramilitary border patrol group SENAFRONT, which reads, “Your decision, your future: narcotics trafficking has only two paths: jail or death. Don’t choose these paths and report illegal activities.”

Changing/Multiple Narratives

Antonio, an Emberá tribe member from the community of Mogué, showing me a tropical forest plant that is used in traditional medicine.

Indigenous Sociopolitics

One of my collaborators, Doña Bélgica, wearing a traditional Emberá skirt and carrying a pail of water. The thatched roof houses in the background are traditional constructions, made of multiple types of local plants. The houses are elevated so that animals can be stored underneath them and so that the area can be used for chores that might be too dirty to carry out inside.

Landscape Learning and Climate Change

Me, very proud of the stone arrowhead I found at Quebrada Seca. This is large enough to be attached to a spear and used for hunting deer and other large mammals.

Farming, Food, and Settling Down

Metate fragment (and geological pick) on the surface of Santiago Barbúa.