Richard G. Cooke (28 October 1946 – 22 February 2023) was an archaeologist who specialized in the archaeology of Panama and, more generally, the Isthmo-Colombian Area.
[1] His contributions to Central American archaeology were celebrated in a conference held in San José, Costa Rica in 2017: “Tras una Herencia Cultural Milenaria: Contribuciones de Richard Cooke a la Arqueología del Área Istmo- Colombiana.” Cooke established a modern reference collection of fauna species of tropical America, for use by archaeologists and others.
External auditory exotoses among the Pre-Colombian inhabitants of Panama,” American Journal of Physical Anthropology, doi:SI-659-2018 (2018) Cooke, Richard, A. Ranere, G. Pearson, & R. Dickau.
"Radiocarbon chronology of early human settlement on the Isthmus of Panama (13,000–7000 BP) with comments on cultural affinities, environments, subsistence, and technological change."
Cooke, Richard G. "Rich, poor, shaman, child: Animals, rank, and status in the ‘Gran Coclé’culture area of pre-Columbian Panama."
Piperno, D. R., Clary, K. H., Cooke, R. G., Ranere, A. J., & Weiland, D. "Preceramic maize in central Panama: phytolith and pollen evidence."