El valor histórico de Sitio Barriles es incalculable. Se trata de una mirada al pasado, a los aborígenes que habitaron las regiones de Tierras Altas y que es la muestra palpable de una cultura que nunca pasó, a pesar que la historia señala que sus pobladores quedaron sepultados por las cenizas del Volcán Tzingal.
En barriles cada objeto, cada pieza tiene una explicación y un por qué de las cosas. Se trata de estudios científicos que han determinado el valor histórico y el significado de este sitio.
Aquí las plantas y los productos agrícolas producen en excelente calidad, sin dejar a un lado la producción de leche que también es parte de la atracción turística de este histórico lugar.
Desde 1906 se encontraron las rocas trabajadas en forma de barril por lo cual este lugar se puso este nombre al sitio. Luego en 1947 se descubren las estatuas de barriles y después de 1970 que regresa Edna de Landau a la propiedad, asegura que encontró un despilfarro y robo de muchas piezas arqueológicas.
“Cuando mi esposo y yo comenzamos a proteger el lugar decidimos codificar las piezas y arreglarlas para la exhibición para que el mundo conozca que existe Sitio Barriles como la existencia de un asentamiento indígena”, dijo.
Se trata de los más notables trabajos realizados en piedra, como hachas, cuchillos, puntas de lanzas, instrumentos para preparar alimentos, entre otros. Una cultura que ha dejado sus huellas en para el futuro.
(Ingles)
Barriles (known also as Sitio Barriles or by the designation BU-24), is one of the most famous archaeological sites in Panama. It is located in the highlands of the Chiriquí Province of Western Panama at 1200 meters above sea level. It is several kilometers west of the modern town of Volcán. This places the site in the Gran Chiriquí culture area (encompassing Western Panama and much of Southern Costa Rica, parts of the even broader Intermediate Area or Isthmo-Colombian Area). The site was originally named for several small stone barrels found in the area, although these have also been found elsewhere in the Río Chiriquí Viejo valley and in Costa Rica. This area has a cool, spring-like climate with a pronounced rainy season between May and November, and a dry but windy season the rest of the year. The region lies on the western flanks of Volcán Barú, a dormant volcano and the highest mountain in Panama.
Like El Caño in Central Panama or Panamá Viejo in Panama City, Barriles is one of the few archaeological sites in Panama regularly accessible to the public. The northwestern portion of the site is accessible to the public through the Landau finca (which is a private property), who have a variety of artifacts on display in their yard, in the walls of a fake excavation block, and in a small private museum. Not all of the artifacts on display were found on-site. The family offers guided tours of the collections and their gardens in both Spanish and English. Donations are greatly appreciated.
The site is believed to have once been a socioceremonial center with a substantial residential population between 500-1000 individuals. It contains a small mound which was once associated with a row of 14 statues. Ten of these depicted solitary individuals, while four included one individual- often chubbier, taller, wearing a conical hat and ornaments- riding atop the shoulders of a naked man, though some of these individuals also wore conical hats. Many scholars have interpreted these double individual statues as evidence for the existence of higher and lower status social groups within Barriles. A large metate (grinding stone) whose border was adorned by tiny stone heads has also been interpreted as evidence for violence or human sacrifice in the past. Many of the statues and the metate are on currently display in the Museo Antropológico Reina Torres de Araúz in Panama City.
