EL CAÑO ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK

The Archaeological Park is a site that gathers

natural and cultural values, able to easily transmit to
the visitor the ecological conditions and the
development of pre-Hispanic human groups in large
cacicazgos. It is one of the main attractions of the
Province of Coclé, Panama.

El Caño Archaeological Park is an essential place

to know and feel the historical and cultural features of the province of Coclé.
Archaeological findings show that the colealterritory was inhabited since the
beginning of the fourth millennium BC. Its inhabitants were basically engaged in the
practice of agriculture, hunting and fishing.

To show the type of daily life of the Coclesan man, the Museum was instituted with
an extensive collection of archaeological pieces from the archaeological site. The
Museum was inaugurated in 1979 in a Spanish colonial style built house located on
the grounds of the archaeological site in front of the existing mortuary mounds in the
Park.

The Archaeological Park has two archaeological areas: the structure of basaltic
Ceremonial Columns, some of them carved (several of them are in the Museum of
the American Indian, in New York), and the Mortuary Mounds, mounds of earth of
funeral type.

Recent excavations in a sector of the site have

discovered a pre-Columbian cemetery with six
tombs of high-ranking characters, dated to 900
BC, the time when the Mayan civilization,
developed about 1,300 km northwest, was
beginning to decline.

The largest tomb (about 5 meters long by 3.5

meters wide) contained at least 25 bodies, one
of them, apparently of a great lord, was covered with
gold and copper garments and accompanied by
artifacts made of animal bones and stones.

El Caño was characterized by a complex of mounds

that were initially housing and then burial places.
The relationship between this archaeological
complex and the cacicazgo headquarters in Natá is
unknown.

The Caño is a very rich site and the ongoing research seeks to determine the origin
and evolution of these societies, how they moved from equal tribes and societies to
rank societies.

History:

It is an interesting invitation to approach the lives of

the original inhabitants of these lands, who founded
settlements in the savannahs of El Caño and
Nathana of the Knights, where they developed their
lives for hundreds of years, taking advantage of the
goodness of a providing them with good hunting
and fishing, and the materials needed to build their homes and tools for these chores.
Although today it is not very evident by the rescue efforts undertaken, the history of
the Park as an archaeological area, has had some considerable setbacks.

In 1925, attracted by the high archaeological

content of El Caño, the American Hyatt Verril, under
the auspices of the Heye Foundation, carried out the
first excavations. It is said that from there he
extracted more than one hundred and fifty boxes
with fragments of columns, whole vessels, stelae,
animal and human figures sculpted into stones,
ornaments of green chalcedony and pieces of gold,
which today exhibits the Museum of the American Indian
and which have been claims by the Panamanian
government for return.

In later years, interest in the area declined as a result of

other discoveries made in nearby places such as El Sitio
Conte and la Loma de los Muertos. El Caño then became
an area of cultivation and livestock promotion, a clear sign
of the ignorance of its cultural and historical values.

In 1973, further research was undertaken because during

the realization in the area of some leveling work by the
sugar mill La Estrella was discovered a group of tombs.

The site was declared an archaeological heritage and is opened to the public in 1979
as the Archaeological Park of El Caño, duly protected by law. After, US scientists
through the modern technique of infrared rays will locate other pre-Columbian burials
of the area and excavate an entire tomb, whose treasures and pieces in ceramics,
gold, bones and stones, are on the premises of the Museum itself allowing visitors
to make an interpretation of the life of the area's pre-Columbian man.

Tourist activities

Among the tourist activities that take place in the Archaeological Park El Caño are:

 Scientific Tourism
 Funeral Tourism
 Archaeological Tourism
 Investigative Tourism
 Hiking
 Cultural Tourism
Tourist infrastructure

El Caño Archaeological Park is located southeast of the town El Caño, district of

Nata, province of Coclé; exactly 2 km away.

How to get there?

From the Inter-American Highway, take the detour of El Caño (between Penonomé
and Natá), pass through the village in front of the church of San Lorenzo.

El Caño Archaeological Park is located in an area that is located in one of the regions
of the Isthmus, more favorable for a human settlement, supported by a productive
agricultural base. The region is located near the Pacific, where you can find a dry
and rainy season, which is considered to be benevolent to the community. This
community has the essential services of water and electricity.