Gran Coclé

Archaeologists working at intervals since the 1920s have uncovered ruins and burials which contain striking artifacts. These include worked gold and other metals, carved bone, shell and whale ivory, textiles, jewelry with semi-precious stones and pottery. Coclé gold work was traded throughout the region, and has been found as far away as Chichen Itza in Yucatán. The large collection of Coclé pre-historic pottery is notable for strong structural design and the use of fish, bird, animal and human figures as decoration.

In the 1920s, at least one major archaeological site, Sitio Conte, was so badly damaged by an unprofessional excavator that much of its history is lost. In the 1930s and 1940, Sitio Conte was extensively excavated by Harvard archaeologist Samuel K. Lothrop and University of Pennsylvania archaeologist J. Alden Mason, each of whom published their findings. A modest museum on that site displays artifacts and site history. A second site, El Caño, was more professionally explored and provides valuable information about the Coclé culture. A portion of Coclé's archaeological sites have been designated as the Gran Coclé Culture Area. Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, published two major works, in 1937 and 1942 respectively, on later excavations in Coclé.