Preservation

Digging starts in El Caño

Work has started on a project to expand exploration in the Parque Arqueológico El Caño in the province of Coclé.

Excavation started there this week under the direction of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and National Geographic.

"It could take months to find anything," said archaeologist Julia Mayo, the project's director. "Work is going very slowly."

Plans for the excavation were formed in 2004 when archaeologists created a proposal for studying the El Caño site, where previous pre-Colombian artifacts had been found as early as the 1920s. In 1979, Reina Torres de Araúz made several important discoveries at the site of items apparently used in Indian rituals.

Meanwhile, historians are working to improve Panama's facilities to display pieces found at sites across the country. Sculptures from the El Caño site have been on display at museums in both the U.S. and Europe, but local scholars hope to one day have them displayed here.

The Instituto Nacional de Cultura (Inac) does have a museum at El Caño, but it is very poorly maintained.

May said improving that museum will be a key step to in bringing El Caño artifacts back to Panama.