Bioarchaelogical Analysis of Graves in Cerro Juan Diaz

Intro

Demonstrating the multi-generational use of a single archaeologica grave site in Panama, using comics.

Archaeology as a discipline researching the human past using material remains to find out how people were like, how they lived, governed, interacted with each other, their beliefs and much more. Archaeology helps create links, histories, and stories connecting our present societies to those of the past.

Dr Nicole Smith-Guzman is an archaeologist and anthropologist working with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Her research “uses evidence of ancient biocultural activities and disease to recreate an enhanced view of cultural activities and overall well-being of ancient Isthmian populations through time.” https://stri.si.edu/scientist/nicole-smith-guzman

The Cooked Illustrations team worked with Dr Smith-Guzman to create a one-page comic book showing, specifically, the story of a particular burial site from the Cerro Juan Diaz archaeological site in central Panama. Evidence found by archaeologists suggest the burial site was first used in the 1st century AD, and then again in the 5th century AD, showing continuous cultural use until after the Conquest of Panama by the Spaniards. With the subsequent cultural rupture, the site saw no further funeral use after the 16th Century. And yet there remained hundreds of years were human activity still took place around the site, specifically looting by huaqueros in the 20th century. It wouldn’t be until 1992 when the site was properly excavated as part of the Cerro Juan Díaz project.

The specific concepts we sought to illustrate in this comic page were:

continuous use of burial sites
archaeological context
illustration of the burial mounds of specific individuals
detailed illustrations of the funeral practices of the time

We added panel 13 of Dr Smith-Guzman talking to a group of schoolchildren from the educational outreach programme ¡Chispa!, which sought to engage children in social deprivation conditions with scientific research at STRI. This panel visually completes the cycle of research, Showing that without the labour of science communication and community outreach, to weave those histories and stories in ways people today can understand, the work of an archaeologist is not over.

The comic was drawn by Cooked Illustrations’ creative director Ian Cooke-Tapia.

In a post-mortem of the project in early-2024, Dr Smith-Guzman confided in Cooked Illustrations that showcasing the comic and illustrations as outreach and science communication outputs for international conferences has been challenging, especially in the USA. As Pre-Columbian archaeology in the USA often involves the ancestors of existing people groups, presenting any representation of them without their permission is a barrier. However, archaeological research and outreach work in Panama doesn’t, currently, face these cultural barriers. This creates a challenging science communication context for any future archaeological outreach projects.

For additional context, here’s videos taken during the original excavations in 1992: