The authors set an ambitious goal of examining patterns in the maritime cultural landscape of Panama and establishing socioeconomic connections over an 11,000-year span of time. Normally, archaeologists in Lower Central America tend to focus either on the precontact or the historical period, with little crossover unless one is focused on the early Spanish colonial period. The authors state (p. xiii) that by “[d]rawing on the material record and assessing Panama through application of both world systems and maritime cultural landscape theory, we examine and explain Panamá within a broader context that ties this landscape to prehistoric patterns of settlement, trade, and sustenance.” The authors’ approach to this investigation with maritime cultural landscape theory does not discard details of shipwrecks, but places them within a larger anthropological context by examining the archaeology of human interaction with marine environment and space. The authors examine this interaction at the local level while tying into larger geopolitical trends using aspects of world systems theory.

The authors reveal that the maritime cultural landscape of Panama evolved through time depending on local, regional, and global influences and events. One area might rise to importance for one group only to become ignored later by the same group. Different cultural groups would have viewed elements of the landscape quite differently. One strength of the book is the inclusion of Indigenous perspectives about their own, albeit modified, maritime cultural landscape as a form of resistance against encroaching Europeans.

The book's chapters are presented chronologically, with a summary of the specific time period followed by an examination of the available archaeological information. Chapter 1 lays the foundation for the maritime cultural landscape from the first inhabitants (ca. 11,500 BP) to the beginning of the Spanish Conquest. For the prehistoric inhabitants, Panama maritime resources offered a variety of socioeconomic opportunities. The rich estuarine regions allowed for a semisedentary, or at least transhumant, lifestyle for many groups over several millennia BC. Later, they provided subsistence food as much as domesticated plants did. The desire for rare shells as a form of prestige led to intensive exchange of goods, ideas, and technology during the Cubitá phase (ca. AD 550–700) throughout the Parita Bay. This led to marked changes to the maritime cultural landscape emphasizing regional contacts that continued, albeit less maritime-focused, with the subsequent switch to gold as a prestige marker.

Chapter 2 outlines the clash of maritime cultures and highlights the emerging Spanish colonial expansion with its violent oppression and the mapping and renaming of geographical areas in favor of Spanish terms. The establishment of Spanish settlements as part of the early colonial maritime landscape would be a radical change from Indigenous patterns, which evolved into a strong extractive or plunder economy. The early Spanish sites of Santa María de Belén and Nombre de Dios and their eventual decline reveal a lack of geographic knowledge and connection to Panama. Chapter 3 describes an emerging global economy in which Panama was a vital link in the Spanish colonial exploitative system, especially after the defeat and subjugation of the Inca empire in AD 1534. Nombre de Dios/Portobelo on the Caribbean side, and Panama City on the Pacific were linked by the Camino Real and Camino de las Cruces, forming a vital link similar to that of the Panama Canal several centuries later.

Chapter 4 focuses on the geography of the Caribbean coast, which provided havens for pirates and buccaneers and offered isolation that enabled Indigenous groups such as the Guna to resist Spanish colonial encroachment. The authors blame the demise of New Edinburgh and Nombre de Dios on Europeans forcing these settlements into the existing geography, rather than understanding the limitations imposed by the maritime cultural landscape. Increased global connections are illustrated, since the economic cost of the failure of this Scottish settlement is considered the main reason Scotland was forced to join England to form the United Kingdom. After the destruction of Panama Viejo by Henry Morgan, the new capital, Casco Viejo, was based on an urban plan that segregated the rich whites from the poor nonwhites living outside the walled city. The increased success of Casco Viejo was based on the geographic placement of the city, which incorporated certain aspects of the local maritime cultural landscape that benefited the Spanish.

Chapter 5 argues that the Indigenous maritime cultural landscape provided isolation and offered the possibility of resistance, especially by the Guna and Ngöbé, despite global policies and influences. The latter included the California gold rush of 1848, which aligned US interests more closely with those of Panama and Colombia and brought Panama out of its century of “backwater” status. The transformation of Panama and the creation of the first transcontinental railroad are the focus of chapter 6. The railroad and the California gold rush transformed Panama into a trading hub for much of the globe, with US economic interests at the forefront.

The prosperity brought to Panama City by the gold rush was not equally experienced by all because dark-skinned non-English speakers were marginalized by American and Panamanian elites through racist policies. Alterations in the maritime cultural landscape occurred, as many place-names along the railroad and later in the Canal Zone were Anglicized and vast tracts of land were appropriated for use by US companies. Using world systems theory, the authors connect the wrecks of ships that were in transit to and from Panama, some from as far away as Australia, to this maritime cultural landscape. Several gold-rush era wrecks in US waters have been investigated, but as part of commercial salvage projects rather than scientific studies.

Chapter 7 highlights increased US involvement in Panama and the protection of US interests through gunboat diplomacy (US forces landed 16 times from 1855 to 1903). Paralleling Spanish concerns over pirates and privateering in the sixteenth century, California gold fleets returning to New York had to contend with Confederate ships during the American Civil War. The geographic opportunities offered by a narrow isthmus in a global economy continued with the rise of canal building by French and later American ventures. The harsh racial and elitist realities of building one of the largest and deadliest engineering projects are revealed by the mortuary landscapes of the time: more than 22,000 dead from the French venture and 6,000 from the American venture. The majority of the dead were poor laborers from the West Indies whose final resting spots are now submerged below Lake Gatún.

In the final chapter, the authors detail the building of the Panama Canal and describe how this wealth once again bypassed local, nonelite Panamanians by creating an American Utopia centered on a Canal Zone that was highly segregated from the local population. The canal, reservoirs, lakes, and so forth are the largest artificial features of any maritime cultural landscape on earth, and they transformed Panama into a de facto American colony. Major investments in fortifications and infrastructure led to a very congested maritime cultural landscape by the time the Canal Zone came under Panama control in the last part of the twentieth century.

Throughout this volume, the authors note the devastating effects of ongoing looting and the lack of protection for terrestrial and maritime archaeological and heritage sites throughout Panama. This is best illustrated by the dearth of academically investigated shipwrecks and other maritime sites in the country when compared to those excavated by looters and treasure hunters. The authors note the recent increase in conservation and heritage protection laws at Casco Viejo, but point out that other areas, which lack equal protection, offer less information to the overall narrative of the maritime cultural landscape and reflect particular sociopolitical agendas.

This book successfully illustrates the importance of the maritime world to the inhabitants of the Isthmus of Panama and their relationship from prehistoric times to the present. Although the focus of this book is on one small area of the world, it is a fascinating examination of how globalization integrated and influenced various social groups over the last five hundred years. This book, therefore, is not just for specialists in Panamanian or maritime archaeology, but should be of interest to many professional and amateur archaeologists.