Motifs and Motivation. A Re-assessment of Methodological Approaches to Central Panamanian Iconography

Ever since the world became aware of ancient Panamá’s archaeological remains, archaeologists have been fascinated by the intricate designs exhibited on its stones, ceramics, and gold work. This interest increased and formalised with the discovery of a rich graphic repertoire at Sitio Conte in the 1930s, and a subsequent rising concern with the worldview of Panamá's pre-contact population. The study of Central Panamanian iconography thus acquired growing importance. With the advancing significance of this subject, however, interpretations remained highly subjective, and in lack of a structured methodological approach. This situation has prompted the author to review the reasons underlying these shortcomings, a procedure that, in turn, has led to a contemplation of the cognitive origins of iconography. Building on the latter insights, the author proceeds to evaluate the effectiveness of typical approaches of iconographical inquiry, finding that none of the existing methods is...Show moreEver since the world became aware of ancient Panamá’s archaeological remains, archaeologists have been fascinated by the intricate designs exhibited on its stones, ceramics, and gold work. This interest increased and formalised with the discovery of a rich graphic repertoire at Sitio Conte in the 1930s, and a subsequent rising concern with the worldview of Panamá's pre-contact population. The study of Central Panamanian iconography thus acquired growing importance. With the advancing significance of this subject, however, interpretations remained highly subjective, and in lack of a structured methodological approach. This situation has prompted the author to review the reasons underlying these shortcomings, a procedure that, in turn, has led to a contemplation of the cognitive origins of iconography. Building on the latter insights, the author proceeds to evaluate the effectiveness of typical approaches of iconographical inquiry, finding that none of the existing methods is sufficiently flexible, or scalable, for application to a pre-literate context. Consequently, a new, five-step methodology is contrived, which efficacy is tested by putting its first two stages into practice with reference to a case-study of Macaracas-style imagery. As such, this thesis does not just deal with the theoretical and methodological difficulties of doing iconographic research, but also highlights some interesting peculiarities of Central Panamanian imageries.Show less

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Motifs and Motivation. A Re-assessment of Methodological Approaches to Central Panamanian Iconography