Archaeology of Far Fan Beach, Panama Canal Zone

Peabody Museum, Harvard University, contains two collections of archaeological materials from Far Fan Beach, Panama Canal Zone. The first was given to Mr. Frederick Johnson in 1931 by an army engineer, without any stratigraphic or other data. The collection comprises some ten sherds picked up while excavating a gun position, and correlates exactly with the collection of some thousand specimens obtained by Dr. David B. Stout of Syracuse University during his work with the San Bias Indians in 1941. This second series was discovered in much the same fashion as the first, though fortunately Dr. Stout was able to get to the site while a few pieces remained in situ.Excavation of the site in the midst of war-hastened construction did not permit the detailed work desired by Dr. Stout, but the results are felt to be a step toward piecing together the background of Panamanian archaeology. Present trends of thought see the Isthmus of Panama as the scene of fluctuating migrations of peoples in the past, and an understanding of the archaeology will aid materially in establishing the course of American prehistory.