Green Stones Buried in Panama’s Ancient Tombs Confirmed as Emeralds From Colombia

Researchers have established for the first time that green stones buried in pre-Columbian tombs in Panama originated as Colombian emeralds, carried through a trade system stretching more than 700 kilometres (435 miles) across ancient South and Central America.

Green Stones Buried in Panama’s Ancient Tombs Confirmed as Emeralds From Colombia. Researchers have established for the first time that green stones buried in pre-Columbian tombs in Panama originated as Colombian emeralds, carried through a trade system stretching more than 700 kilometres (435 miles) across ancient South and Central America. The study, published in Latin American Antiquity, was led by Carlos Mayo Torne, an archaeologist at the Technological University of Panama. His team examined five stones from El Cano and Sitio Conte, two burial sites on Panama’s Pacific coast active between roughly AD 800 and 1000. The sites are part of the Gran Cocle cultural region. Chiefs were buried there with gold objects shaped like animals, fossilized megalodon teeth, and pyrite mirrors. Just eight green stones have been recorded across the ent...