1000 BC to 1500

Chiefdoms of gold

Long before Europeans arrived, the isthmus was home to farming chiefdoms linked by trade between the two continents. In the central Pacific lowlands, the Gran Coclé tradition produced painted pottery and gold ornaments, buried with chiefs at sites such as Sitio Conte. The Guna, Emberá and Ngäbe peoples, who still live in Panama, descend from these older societies or arrived later.