In conjunction with the National Museum of Costa Rica and under the supervision of Dr. Marilyn Masson, Jared Latimer will conduct archaeological investigations at the site of La Iberia. Located in the Atlantic Watershed of Costa Rica, La Iberia was a large village flourishing at approximately A.D. 1000, half a century before the Spanish Conquest. This was an important time period that was preceded by large cultural, political and economic changes in the region. For example, between A.D. 500-1000, populations began aggregating into large villages. There is an increase in economic trade and exchange, with goods being acquired both locally and also through long distance trading. There is also evidence of more powerful rulers, who mobilized substantial labor forces to build monumental architectural complexes within and between major settlements where the elite members of society lived.
This project investigates the fundamental research question of how and why these political developments occurred. Of particular interest is how complex societies were organized and maintained, and how did they change through time? The archaeological investigation employs an approach that focuses on elite political and economic interactions reflected in the archaeological record. The project will consider strategies for societal integration and the legitimation of political power in order to understand how elite members of society garnered and manipulated that power. These strategies varied greatly among different ancient cultures of the pre-modern world and different political systems correlate with alternative sets of archaeological signatures. For example, individuals may garner political power by controlling religious or esoteric knowledge. Alternatively, they may control basic material resources such as agrarian land, trade networks and valuable goods. Externally-focused leaders may emphasize the development of relationships with elites in other communities, and more internally-focused political systems concentrate their efforts on cultivating relationships within their own community. Changes through time observed in archaeological materials and features associated with elite residences reflect the development and transformations of power strategies. Understanding the key elements of political systems reflected at the site of La Iberia will determine how the site itself was founded and maintained in the larger context of a regional system of centers in Costa Rica's Atlantic Watershed. On a comparative level, this study contributes information from a new, poorly understood region to the larger question of the emergence of complex society and major societal transformations from mobile hunter-gatherer and horticultural groups to hierarchical agricultural civilizations.
Information gathered by this project will be disseminated to academics and other researchers through conventional publication venues. A web page linked to the Institute for Mesoamerican Studies (University at Albany SUNY) will disseminate new knowledge to the public about La Iberia and Lower Central American archaeology. Undergraduate students from both SUNY Albany and the University of Costa Rica have already agreed to participate in this research project, cultivating international learning and cooperation. Jared Latimer will continue his outreach activities by giving presentations at high schools and colleges in the U.S. Furthermore, the looting or outright destruction of archaeological sites due to agricultural or infrastructural development in Costa Rica has been pervasive. This project will work directly with the local community to promote the value of protecting the region's cultural patrimony for future investigations and for future generations.
The 2011 excavations at the secondary political center of La Iberia revealed significant new information about one of a handful of poorly documented sites in Costa Rica’s Caribbean watershed. Survey and excavation work conducted indicate that La Iberia was architecturally more complex than previously known. An additional causeway leading from the monumental center to the periphery was documented, and excavations sampled elite domestic structures. The working hypothesis was confirmed that the two principal mounds were elite households rather than public buildings, and this information reveals that ceremony and leadership took place in the context of chiefly residences for polities like La Iberia. Materials analyzed from excavations revealed that craft production was not an important activity for the settlement, at least in the areas sampled. This pattern suggests the importance of regional exchange for both ordinary goods used in daily life as well as valuable, high status pottery and sculptures. The variety of non-local pottery types indicates that La Iberia’s rulers were in close trading contact with a network of larger and smaller centers in eastern Costa Rica. Documenting the importance of exchange, especially for commonly-used utilitarian items, attests to the lack of autonomy in the craft economy of this region. The ubiquity of non-local ceramics in disturbed cemetery zones reflects their value as mortuary offerings and as prestige goods in regional exchange. Little is known about the household and trade economy of Caribbean Costa Rica chiefdoms in the 500 years before Spanish contact. For this reason, this project represents an important first step toward addressing this research problem. Tourism represents a significant part of the national economy of Costa Rica today, yet only one archaeological site is open for tourism on the Caribbean side of the country. Equally, education about the ancient cultural heritage of Costa Rica is poorly developed as a consequence of scarce scientific research projects. Although Costa Rica archaeologists have diligently surveyed this region, their work has been concerned with early phase documentation of the monumental planning, organization, size, and extent of architecture, as well as basic chronology. The La Iberia Project has aided in these essential goals, and has added information about the social and economic organization of a key type of settlement unit – a secondary (second tier) political center. In order for Costa Rica to prioritize and develop archaeological sites for tourism and to incorporate them in educational objectives, such research must first be performed. Collaboration with Costa Rica archaeologists on this project was designed to further such awareness and to disseminate new information regarding the value of sites such as La Iberia. This project involved collaboration with a senior archaeologist at the National Museum of Costa Rica, Ricardo Vázquez, and employed Costa Rica students in laboratory analysis and report preparation. Upon completion of Jared Latimer’s dissertation, the La Iberia project will expand this collaborative research in a long term program of study.
