Overall map of Central America and adjacent regions (Caribbean and northern South America). This exhibition looks at seven regions representing distinct Central American cultural areas. A number of cultures occupied each region. These regions are today part of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.
figurine styles, mortuary practices and even Mexican religious practices that focused on the wind god Ehecatl and the Feathered Serpent god.
The evidence from Santa Isabel demon-
strates that these same communities did not, however, plant maize, or consume dog or turkey as food staples. Nor did they use Me- soamerican style ritual incense burners. This perplexing scenario has lead scholars working at Santa Isabel to suggest that perhaps these migrations were made by communities com- ing from intermediate regions in El Salvador and Honduras. What they brought with them
were ways of doing things that were partly local and partly Mesoamerican. And as do all migrating communities, they adapted to local customs and resources once they settled at Santa Isabel. Ancient pathways moved people, objects
and ideas across considerable expanses of Central America where boundaries and bor- ders were probably less prohibitive than they are today. While territories were certainly marked and defended, the need to acquire key non-local resources and maintain social obligations meant that travel was likely not restricted, even during periods of conflict.
Cross-boundary movements were frequent and ordinary in the pre-Columbian past. The examples provided here offer evidence that these routes were important for connecting diverse communities in Central America to each other and to regions north and south. Perhaps continued research on the corridors of travel, the trails, paths and roads will some- day enlighten us about the nature and mean- ing of these journeys as well.X
Alex Benitez is co-curator for the Ceramica del los Ancestros: Central America’s Past Revealed exhibition and assistant professor of anthropology at George Mason University.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 19
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