The Isthmo-Colombian Area is defined as a cultural area encompassing those territories occupied predominantly by speakers of the Chibchan languages at the time of European contact. It includes portions of the Central American isthmus like eastern El Salvador , eastern Honduras , Caribbean Nicaragua , Costa Rica , Panama , and northern Colombia .
11-629: It is a portion of what has previously been termed the Intermediate Area , and was defined in a chapter by John W. Hoopes and Oscar Fonseca Z in the 2003 book Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia . The concept draws upon multidisciplinary perspectives, including linguistic reconstructions by Costa Rican anthropological linguist Adolfo Constenla Umaña and observations on Chibchan genetics by Costa Rican anthropological geneticist Ramiro Barrantes Mesén . It
22-765: A fairly mutually intelligible dialect continuum . Ethnologue divides this into six languages. Kaufman (1994) considers the term Cholo to be vague and condescending. Noanamá has some 6,000 speakers on the Panama-Colombia border. Internal classification by Jolkesky (2016): ( † = extinct) Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Guahibo , Kamsa , Paez , Tukano , Witoto-Okaina , Yaruro , Chibchan , and Bora-Muinane language families due to contact. Genetic links between Choco and Chibchan had been proposed by Lehmann (1920). However, similarities are few, some of which may be related to
33-532: Is an archaeological geographical area of the Americas that was defined in its clearest form by Gordon R. Willey in his 1971 book An Introduction to American Archaeology, Vol. 2: South America (Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ). It comprises the geographical region between Mesoamerica to the north and the Central Andes to the south, including portions of Colombia and most of the territory of
44-480: Is currently being refined through ongoing studies of the linguistics . genetics , archaeology , art history , ethnography , and ethnohistory of this part of the Americas. This includes more recent study of the relationships between this area and the Antilles within a Pan-Caribbean framework. Archaeological knowledge of this area has received relatively little attention compared to its adjoining neighbors to
55-579: The New World . However, recent archaeological research has demonstrated that this part of the Americas had some of the earliest agriculture, pottery, and metallurgy in the hemisphere. Given new findings, it is likely to have played a critical role in the transmission of culture both to and between neighboring regions to the north and south. Recently, concepts such as that of the Isthmo-Colombian Area have been offered as an alternative to
66-663: The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta of Colombia . Research at sites such as Rivas , Costa Rica helps to document the configurations of large settlements in the centuries prior to the Spanish Conquest . Some of the best-known Isthmo-Colombian sculptures are the stone spheres of Costa Rica . Another area that has provided valuable archaeological information is the Gran Coclé region in Panama , largely coinciding with
77-591: The Intermediate Area with the intention of creating a neutral term. Choco languages The Choco languages (also Chocoan , Chocó , Chokó ) are a small family of Native American languages spread across Colombia and Panama . Choco consists of six known branches, all but two of which are extinct. Anserma, Arma, and Sinúfana are extinct . The Emberá group consists of two languages mainly in Colombia with over 60,000 speakers that lie within
88-1241: The modern-day Coclé Province . The Isthmo-Colombian Area was and is still home to a wide variety of indigenous peoples. A large number of them were speakers of Chibchan languages . These include (but are not limited to) the Pech , the Rama , the Maleku , the Bribri , the Cabécar , the Guaymí , the Naso , the Kuna , the Kogi , the Motilon , the U'wa , and the Muisca . Non-Chibchan groupings include Misumalpan languages , Choco languages , Barbacoan languages , Lencan languages (also considered Mesoamerican), and certain Cariban languages . Intermediate Area The Intermediate Area
99-424: The north and south, despite the fact that scholars such as Max Uhle , William Henry Holmes , C. V. Hartman , and George Grant MacCurdy undertook studies of archaeological sites and collections here over a century ago that were augmented by further research by Samuel Kirkland Lothrop , John Alden Mason , Doris Zemurray Stone , William Duncan Strong , Gordon Willey , and others in the early 20th century. One of
110-896: The reasons for the relative lack of attention is the lack of research by locals themselves into the ancestral monuments and architecture characteristic of communities such as those found in the neighboring culture areas of Mesoamerica and the Andes areas, and a long history of Eurocentric perceptions by Western scholars of what represented civilization. There are a large number of sites with impressive platform mounds, plazas, paved roads, stone sculpture, and artifacts made from jade , gold , and ceramic materials. These include Las Mercedes , Guayabo de Turrialba , Cutrís , and Cubujuquí in Costa Rica and Pueblito (in Tayrona National Natural Park ) and Ciudad Perdida in
121-473: The republics of Nicaragua , Costa Rica , and Panama .As an archaeological concept, the Intermediate Area has always been somewhat poorly defined. Because it was not home to ancient state societies but was predominated by early chiefdoms at the time of the Spanish conquest , it was sometimes regarded as a kind of cultural backwater that contributed little to the emergence of Pre-Columbian civilization in
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