4,000 Year Old Shaman's Stones Found Near Boquete, Panama

Posted on January 15, 2013

Archaeologists working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama announced they have discovered shaman stones that are at least 4,000 years old near the town of Boquete. The stones represent the earliest material evidence of shamanistic practice in lower Central America.

Ruth Dickau, Leverhulme Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Exeter in England, unearthed the stones in the Casita de Piedra rock-shelter in 2007. Charcoal found directly underneath the cache of rocks was radiocarbon dated to 4,800 years ago and charcoal in a level above the rocks was dated to 4,000 years ago.

Consulting geologist Stewart Redwood determined that the cache consists of a the following stones: "small dacite stone fashioned into a cylindrical tool; a small flake of white, translucent quartz; a bladed quartz and jarosite aggregate; a quartz crystal aggregate; several pyrite nodules that showed evidence of use; a small, worn and abraded piece of chalcedony; a magnetic andesite flake; a large chalcedony vein stone; and a small magnetic kaolinite stone naturally eroded into an unusual shape, similar to a flower."

The stones were found in a tight pile. The researchers say this means they were probably kept inside a bag or basket that has since decomposed. The researchers say indigenous groups who lived near this site include the Ngabe, Bugle, Bribri, Cabecar and the now-extinct Dorasque peoples.

ARCHAEOLOGY