Some Observations on the Remarkable Career of Richard G. Cooke

Abstract

My goal in this presentation is to highlight some of the many accomplishments that have marked Richard Cooke’s career over the last five decades. Richard arrived in Panama in 1969 as doctoral candidate at the Institute of Archaeology, London University. His 1972 dissertation displays many of the scholarly practices that served him well throughout his career: (1) an encyclopedic approach that considers the widest possible range of information available on his subject, (2) collaboration with specialists in analyzing field data and (3) his own careful analysis of artifacts, particularly ceramics. In the decade after finishing his dissertation, Richard excavated additional ceramic sites as well as preceramic and historic sites. Concerned that the excavation of isolated sites was not providing us with a comprehensive view of Central Panama prehistory, we initiated the Proyecto Santa Maria in the 1980s, a long term interdisciplinary project that provided an overview of subsistence and settlement in Central Pacific Panama over a 13,000 year period. With this framework in place, Richard turned to directing extensive excavations in various sites, most notably Cerro Juan Diaz. Along the way, Richard has contributed major scholarly publications on too many topics to mention here, established one of the best comparative faunal collections in tropical America, mentored numerous students from Latin America and beyond, informed the general public through publications and presentations about Isthmus-Colombian deep history and collaborated in productive ways with numerous other researchers; I count myself fortunate to be one of them.