Gran Coclé

The area largely coincides with the modern-day Panamanian province of Coclé, and consisted of a number of identifiable native cultures.

These include worked gold and other metals, carved bone, shell and whale ivory, textiles, jewelry with semi-precious stones and pottery.

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, Sitio Conte, was so badly damaged by an unprofessional excavator that much of its history is lost.

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.

Coclé pedestal dish: Joaquín Polychrome, AD 600-800. The opposed figures are thought to be a shaman in magical flight, as a bat. Collections of Walters Art Museum
Gold plaque excavated from Sitio Conte, made about 700 AD. Peabody Museum , Harvard University.
Turtle pendant, Playa de Venado, 500-1300 CE, shell, Dumbarton Oaks Museum, Washington, DC