The Caribbean Sea, its surrounding territories, and the people who occupied this space can be viewed as an “American Mediterranean,” a maritime context in which interaction via both water and land occurred over millennia. Long regarded as a marginal periphery and “intermediate” bridge influenced by external forces, the cultures of the Isthmo-Colombian Area are now considered to have their own ancient, autochthonous, and distinctive characteristics. This presentation will discuss current issues in the art and archaeology of the Isthmo-Colombian Area, the region between eastern Honduras and northern Colombia that was occupied primarily by speakers of languages in the Chibchan family at the time of European contact. It will also summarize highlights of two forthcoming books from Dumbarton Oaks that feature the archaeology of southern Central America and northern South America.
John W. Hoopes is a professor of anthropology at the University of Kansas. He received his PhD from Harvard University in 1987, where he was the last doctoral advisee of Gordon R. Willey, and has specialized in the archaeology of ancient Costa Rica and the Isthmo-Colombian Area. His interests include the origins of ceramics and the emergence of social complexity as well as pre-Hispanic lapidary arts, metallurgy, shamanism, and popular interpretations of the ancient past. Prof. Hoopes has undertaken archaeological fieldwork in Costa Rica since 1978. He has also undertaken archaeological fieldwork in Ecuador, Virginia, and New Mexico. He was a consultant for the Central America section of the recent exhibition Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas, featured at the Getty and the Metropolitan Museums. His publications include The Emergence of Pottery: Technology and Innovation in Ancient Societies (1995, with William Barnett). Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia (2003, with Jeffrey Quilter), and the forthcoming Pre-Columbian Art from Central America and Colombia at Dumbarton Oaks and Pre-Columbian Central America, Colombia, and Ecuador: Towards an Integrated Approach (2021, with Colin McEwan).
