Preserve the El Cano Archaeological Park & museum

The Fundación El Caño team continued working in the field until the third week of March. In March, FEC team member Dr. Miguel Ángel Hervás joined the rest of the team in El Caño. He worked with the students giving them training on the proper way to take measurements and coordinates of the site and any relevant findings. He also showed them the proper way to diagram the site they are working on accoring to scale.

FEC team member Alexa Hancock worked with Katherinne, a student at the Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí (UNACHI), on teeth that were on display in the museum from tomb T7. Katherinne is conducting a study on all the teeth from tomb T7 for her thesis.

The field season had to close early due to the Coronavirus affecting the Republic of Panamá. By the end of March, the Fundación El Caño team moved to working from home. All members are contibuting to a publication documenting the first ten years of the foundation´s investigation of the El Caño necropolis, covering 2008-2018. The team is continuing to work on this project and intend to have it ready and published by the end of this year.

Work is also continuing on the project to create a virtual representation of the El Caño Archaeological Park and Museum. This will enable the public to visit the museum exhibits and tour the site in an online virtual environment. Worcester Polytechnic Institute assigned a team of four students to the project. Virtual meetings have been held with the students and Footprint Possibilities, Inc. Footprint Possibilities, Inc. works to organize and seek funding for local Panamanian community efforts. These range from construction to educational opportunities and events that engage the community with the environment, children, cultures, health and education. They serve as the local point of contact for U.S. based student organizations wishing to work in Panama and were resposnible for connecting Worcester Polytechnic Institute with Fundación El Caño. A benefit of this project is, in the event the students are unable to travel to Panamá they will still be able to complete it from the United States as it is primatrliy a technical and software based project.

Even though the team cannot work in their office in the City of Knowledge, the laboratory and collection is still periodically cleaned and checked on by FEC president Dr. Julia Mayo to ensure the atifacts are safe and being kept in good condition.