Intermediate Area
{{Short description|Archeological geographical area of the America's}}
{{more footnotes|date=July 2015}}
The Intermediate Area is an archaeological geographical area of the Americas that was defined in its clearest form by Gordon R. Willey in his 1971 book An Introduction to American Archaeology, Vol. 2: South America (Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ). It comprises the geographical region between Mesoamerica to the north and the Central Andes to the south, including portions of Honduras and Nicaragua and most of the territory of the republics of Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia. As an archaeological concept, the Intermediate Area has always been somewhat poorly defined.
Because it was not home to ancient state societies but was predominated by early chiefdoms at the time of the Spanish conquest, it was sometimes regarded as a kind of cultural backwater that contributed little to the emergence of Pre-Columbian civilization in the New World. However, recent archaeological research has demonstrated that this part of the Americas had some of the earliest agriculture, pottery, and metallurgy in the hemisphere.{{Cite book|last1=Peregrine|first1=Peter N|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0525-9|title=Encyclopedia of Prehistory: Volume 5: Middle America|last2=Ember|first2=Melvin|date=2002|publisher=Springer US|isbn=978-1-4615-0525-9|location=Boston, MA|doi=10.1007/978-1-4615-0525-9|language=English|oclc=858882346}}
Given new findings, it is likely to have played a critical role in the transmission of culture both to and between neighboring regions to the north and south. Recently, concepts such as that of the Isthmo-Colombian Area have been offered as an alternative to the Intermediate Area with the intention of creating a neutral term.
References
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- {{cite encyclopedia |author=Cooke, Richard |year=2001 |article=Gran Coclé| encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Prehistory|volume=5 : Middle America |editor2-first=Peter Neal|editor2-last=Peregrine|editor2-link=Peter N. Peregrine|editor1-first=Melvin|editor1-last=Ember|editor1-link=Melvin Ember|location=New York |publisher=Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, in conjunction with the Human Relations Area Files at Yale University |pages=239–256|isbn=0-306-46259-1 |oclc=84088734}}
- {{cite encyclopedia |author=Corrales Ulloa, Francisco |year=2001 |article=Chiriqui| encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Prehistory|volume= 5 : Middle America |editor2-first=Peter Neal|editor2-last=Peregrine|editor2-link=Peter N. Peregrine|editor1-first=Melvin|editor1-last=Ember|editor1-link=Melvin Ember|location=New York |publisher=Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, in conjunction with the Human Relations Area Files at Yale University |pages=54–68|isbn=0-306-46259-1 |oclc=84088734}}
- {{cite encyclopedia |author=Hoopes, John W. |year=2001a |article=Early Chibcha| encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Prehistory|volume=5 : Middle America |editor2-first=Peter Neal|editor2-last=Peregrine|editor2-link=Peter N. Peregrine|editor1-first=Melvin|editor1-last=Ember|editor1-link=Melvin Ember|location=New York |publisher=Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, in conjunction with the Human Relations Area Files at Yale University |pages=100–115|isbn=0-306-46259-1 |oclc=84088734}}
- {{cite encyclopedia |author=Hoopes, John W. |year=2001b |article=Late Chibcha| encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Prehistory|volume=5 : Middle America |editor2-first=Peter Neal|editor2-last=Peregrine|editor2-link=Peter N. Peregrine|editor1-first=Melvin|editor1-last=Ember|editor1-link=Melvin Ember|location=New York |publisher=Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, in conjunction with the Human Relations Area Files at Yale University |pages=239–256|isbn=0-306-46259-1 |oclc=84088734}}
- {{cite book |author=Hoopes, John W. |author2=Oscar M. Fonseca Z. |year=2003 |chapter=Goldwork and Chibchan Identity: Endogenous Change and Diffuse Unity in the Isthmo-Colombian Area |chapter-url=http://www.humanas.unal.edu.co/colantropos/documentos/hoopes_oro.pdf |edition=online e-text reproduction |editor=Jeffrey Quilter |editor2=John W. Hoopes |title=Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia: A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 9 and 10 October 1999 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection |pages=[https://archive.org/details/goldpowerinancie0000unse/page/49 49–90] |isbn=0-88402-294-3 |oclc=54110115 |url=https://archive.org/details/goldpowerinancie0000unse/page/49 }}
- {{cite book |author=Quilter, Jeffrey |year=2003 |chapter=Introduction: The Golden Bridge of the Daríen |chapter-url=http://www.doaks.org/publications/doaks_online_publications/GoldandPower/GoldandPower00.pdf |edition=online e-text reproduction |editor=Jeffrey Quilter |editor2=John W. Hoopes |title=Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia: A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 9 and 10 October 1999 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection |pages=[https://archive.org/details/goldpowerinancie0000unse/page/n14 1]–14 |isbn=0-88402-294-3 |oclc=54110115 |url-status=dead |url=https://archive.org/details/goldpowerinancie0000unse |url-access=registration |access-date=18 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613062537/http://doaks.org/publications/doaks_online_publications/GoldandPower/GoldandPower00.pdf |archive-date=13 June 2010 }}
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