As the fifth and final volume in a series of publications dedicated to the description and study of the pre-Columbian collection at Dumbarton Oaks (beginning with Andean art at Dumbarton Oaks in 1996; Hill Boone Reference Boone1996), Pre-Columbian art from Central America and Colombia at Dumbarton Oaks and its companion volume, Pre-Columbian Central America, Colombia, and Ecuador: toward an integrated approach, lend new meaning to the phrase ‘going out with a bang’, with a combined 1262 pages and over 30 separate essays. Clearly an enormous undertaking, these books are the outcome of countless collaborations, technical analyses and workshops over many years, gathering the participation of an impressive number of scholars from all over the Americas. The sheer amount of data and detail presented in these volumes, as well as updated topics for discussion and interpretation, make them an absolutely fundamental resource for any scholar of the region.
At 768 pages long, Pre-Columbian art from Central America and Colombia at Dumbarton Oaks is undoubtedly the biggest volume ever published on the ancient arts of the Isthmo-Colombian region. Nominally a catalogue of the pertaining collection at Dumbarton Oaks, in scope, detail and execution, it is far more than an analysis of the 211 artworks illustrated in its plates and accompanying entries. Indeed—not counting the introduction, nor the well-researched article on the history of the collection—interspersing the object entries are eleven full-length essays on jadeworking, metalworking, greenstone analysis, and the outcomes of excavations at various archaeological sites in Panama and Colombia.
On one hand, the book is well set up for general audiences. It opens with maps, timelines and a wonderful set of specially commissioned drawings of tools and techniques, illustrating everything from drilling and polishing methods for greenstones to hammering and casting techniques for metalwork (pp. xvii–xxv). The introductory essay features a glossary of periods and regions clearly designed to help newcomers to the field navigate its broad timespan and geography. On the other hand, this book shines as a resource for the true expert and aficionado. Every single artwork has its own dedicated Plate, Tombstone, Acquisition, Exhibition, and Publication History, and, in the case of the metalworks, Composition Analysis too. Several of the object entries have supporting photographs or diagrams and can be considered as mini essays themselves. If you are looking for a four-page entry on a single tubular albite bead from Costa Rica (Plate 75, pp. 214–17), this is the book for you.
With 72 plates on greenstone celts and pendants, the texts invariably contain repetitious descriptions and examples. The excellent essay on jadeworking by Hoopes, Mora-Marin & Kovacevich contains a section on sawing and drilling techniques (p. 35, fig. 15), replicating in photographs the exact information illustrated in drawings at the beginning of the book. What a rare luxury to have both! Most of the essays are for true scholars, delving deep into details of prior studies, findings, analyses and classifications. Mora-Marin's essay on the Costa Rican Anthropomorphic Celtiform Pendant Theme, for example, includes a two-page table on previous scholars’ jade form classifications going back to the 1950s that may enthuse only the most expert reader. Similarly, Laudenburger and colleagues’ essay on jadeite mineralogy and geology includes two enormous tables of the results of, respectively, the Raman spectroscopy and XRF spectrometry carried out on the Dumbarton Oaks greenstones and reference materials, meticulously separating jadeite from omphacite, albite and quartz. Both these examples perfectly represent the comprehensiveness and detail of data that characterises the entire volume.
The companion volume, Pre-Columbian Central America, Colombia, and Ecuador: toward an integrated approach, contains 20 more essays ranging from thematic topics to detailed interpretations of individual burials from archaeologically excavated sites. Following scholarly consensus of recent decades, albeit with a lot more evidence than most to back this up, the volume presents the Isthmo-Colombian region (a term proposed in Reference Hoopes, Fonseca, Quilter and Hoopes2003 by Hoopes and Fonseca Zamora), as an integrated area of autochthonous developments in contact with Meso- and South America, and once and for all dispels the notions of an ‘intermediate’ area that was defined by cultural and technological influxes from the north or south. There is less focus on elites, power and hierarchy, and the authors successfully avoid discussing the typifications of chiefdoms, shamanism and gold. Instead, the emphasis—encapsulated in Joyce's essay Central America: time for a paradigm shift—is on a fresh approach, “one that eschews the notion of territories and bounded areas in favour of a fresh approach addressing shared communities of practice and constellations of practice” (Hoopes, McEwan & Cockrell, p. 1). This proposes a shift for the identification of networks or societies through cultural practices as a subject of investigation, rather than a background assumption within a neatly bounded territory. In other words, shared practices can define communities and societies’ sense of identity, allowing one to overcome the limits of working within culture areas. The use of network models in archaeology is not new but seems particularly relevant, given today's increasing consideration of Amerindian Indigenous approaches, in which defining things by their relationships rather than proprietary characteristics may be more appropriate.
The enormous and comprehensive essay by Richard Cooke on the landbridge zone—covering everything from initial human dispersal to Indigenous issues in the present day—perfectly sets the scene for an integrated approach, and the final essay by McEwan & Looper (Seats, seating and social roles: cross-cultural comparisons) is truly thematic and pan-regional in scope. That said, the rest of the volume is divided into familiar, bounded regions (e.g. Mesoamerica, Nicaragua, Panama and Costa Rica), although several essays consider interregional interactions. The overview essays on Nicaraguan ceramics (McCafferty & Dennett) and Nicaraguan monumental stone sculpture (Geurds), as well as one providing The view from the Caribbean (Rodriguez Ramos & Hoopes), seem to make the most of this much-needed platform for what are often overlooked (material) cultures. Although completely different and far more focused in their approach, the two essays on specific burials excavated at Sitio Conte in Panama (Day; Erickson & Fenton) are further cornerstone contributions to the volume, with well-illustrated and contextualised examples of the type of information that does exist from this region. They provide the perfect case-study remedies for what Hoopes and Gonzalez lament in their essay on the history of Isthmo-Colombian archaeology, which is that “even among specialists there tends to be a vast underestimation about what is actually known about this part of the Americas” (p. 17). Given this unfortunate situation, it is a curious choice that the volume devotes three whole essays to the region of Mesoamerica, of which two focus on the already well-researched and published finds from the Sacred Cenote and Chichen Itza. Meanwhile, for those specialists thirsty to correct their relative ignorance, there is just one essay on Costa Rica and one on Colombia, the latter of which, while providing a detailed and thorough analysis of the Muisca Balsa, focuses entirely on what is already Colombia's perhaps most famous ancient artefact. The timeline presented for ancient Colombia (p. 273) also seems to cover only five of the eleven archaeological regions identified on the accompanying maps (pp. xiv–xv & 272), which seems a peculiar oversight.
Observations such as these feel like nitpicking. The two volumes’ temporal and geographical scope is colossal, and it is no wonder that such an ambitious undertaking would leave gaps. This simply means that there is plenty of scope for further publication, no doubt benefitting from the relationships and data developed in the course of creating this gargantuan work, and the researchers it may inspire. Additional publication of scholarship on ceramics, for instance, seems especially obvious, low-hanging fruit (both essays on the burials at Sitio Conte show dozens, if not hundreds, of ceramic objects in the excavation photos, but there is no mention of them in the text). Some more complex but important next challenges are outlined by the editors and authors themselves, touching on the need for cultural heritage preservation strategies at various levels, and the integration of issues such as Indigenous identity, rights and knowledge-sharing.
Overall, the catalogue, Pre-Columbian art from Central America and Colombia at Dumbarton Oaks, successfully synthesises a huge quantity of archaeological information and technical material analysis, even if it means some repetitious examples in terms of the data presented. It is less successful at offering interpretation, but as a resource for students and scholars, there can be no doubt of the value in presenting a collection in such extraordinary and comprehensive detail. The only shortcoming stems from the limitations of the collection itself, which contains no ceramics; while there are references to ceramic works in the essays and object entries, this is what prevents it from being a truly comprehensive resource on the Pre-Columbian material culture of Central America and Colombia. I do not doubt that it will make a lasting contribution to the study of ancient Isthmo-Colombian stone and metalwork.
The edited volume, Pre-Columbian Central America, Colombia, and Ecuador: toward an integrated approach, provides a platform of the highest quality for scholarship and archaeological work that has been overlooked; more so, it offers novel and updated approaches to the region and its material culture that will continue to shape scholarship in the region.
Now that these volumes are here, it feels like they have been long overdue. They should be of relevance to anyone interested in the ancient Americas, with contributions and design elements to entice both experts and interested novices.
