Talgua drainage; Honduras

During the summer of 1995, an intensive archaeological survey of the Rio Talgua drainage in eastern Honduras was conducted after the discovery of the Talgua Cave in the Department of Olancho. One important goal of this survey was the identification of the indigenous population responsible for depositing the ninth-century B.C. human burials found upstream in Talgua Cave. In addition to this survey, four other caves were found and/or explored during this season, and limited excavations were also conducted at the mounded site of Talgua downstream and at the ceramic-production site of Chichicaste in the mountains to the west. Preliminary analysis of the architecture and ceramics from 39 newly identified archaeological sites in the Talgua Valley suggests that all appear to date to the Late Classic period (A.D. 600-900), leaving the location of the Middle Formative period population unresolved. A review of the survey, cave, and ceramic data, however, does reveal possible information about the multiethnic nature of the regional political system and local social structure that existed in this previously unstudied area of Central America. Between June and August of 1995, an intensive archaeological survey of the Rio Talgua drainage in eastern Honduras was conducted in conjunction with the investigation of the Talgua Cave recently discovered in the Department of Olancho (Brady et al. 1995a, 1995b). This project was run concurrently with the excavation and analysis of the village site of Talgua (OL-33) (Hasemann 1995) and the pre-Hispanic ceramic-production site of Chichicaste (OL-20) (Beaudry-Corbett 1996; Beaudry-Corbett et al. 1995). Four additional caves in the vicinity were also found and explored during this season. One important goal of this regional and multisite investigation was to identify the indigenous population responsible for depositing the ninth-century B.C. human burials found upstream in Talgua Cave. Preliminary analysis of the architecture and ceramics from 39 newly identified archaeological sites in the Talgua Valley suggests that all appear to date to the Late Classic period (A.D. 600-900), leaving the location of the Middle Formative population unresolved. A review of the survey, cave, and ceramic data together, however, suggests possible archaeological parallels with the multiethnic nature of the regional political system and local social structure in the Olancho Valley as it was recorded by the first Spanish colonists in the sixteenth century. Interpreting Classicperiod sociopolitical patterns based on the apparent early postConquest situation is admittedly speculative, but these ethnohistoric models are grounded in local geography, even if ethnic continuity is debatable. The Rio Talgua is a minor tributary of the Rio Guayape, which drains the Olancho Valley (Figure 1), the largest highland basin in the country that encompasses approximately 3,000 km and flows ultimately into the Caribbean as part of the much larger Rio Patuca system. The geology in the upper Talgua drainage is a sequence of limestones and shales pertaining to the Cretaceous-period Yojoa Group, while the lower course within the Olancho Valley consists of Quaternary-period continental and marine sediments (Instituto GeograTico Nacional 1991). The Rio Talgua headwaters arise to the west in the cloud forests of the Sierra de Agalta at 2,174 meters above sea level (masl), and the river enters the valley floor at approximately 400 masl before emptying into the Rio Guayape 15 km downstream (Figure 2).The climate of the region is considered to be subtropical with an average annual rainfall of 1,500 mm (Reyes Mazzoni 1976:304) and a mean temperature over 78° F. While tropical forests are still present in the mountains, most of the Olancho Valley floor today is either under cultivation or serves as pasturage for large cattle ranches. Archaeological attention to the department of Olancho has lagged far behind investigations conducted in northern and central Honduras, due at least in part to the remoteness of the area (until recently) and the popular perception of the department as a cultural backwater. Pioneering reconnaissance in the region by the Smithsonian Institution (Strong 1933, 1935) recorded several mounded sites in the vicinity of Catacamas and Juticalpa, none of which fell within the present Rio Talgua study area. Stylistic in-