Scattered across Panama are mysterious stones covered with spirals, circles, faces, animals, geometric shapes and strange lines that were carved into the rock long before the arrival of Europeans. They are petroglyphs, and they represent one of the most fascinating and least understood parts of Panama's ancient history. Sometimes called piedras pintadas or "painted stones," these ancient carvings can be found in several parts of the country, with particularly important concentrations in Chiriquí, Veraguas and Coclé. What makes them so fascinating is that we can still see the marks today, but in many cases we don't know exactly what the people who created them were trying to tell us.
A petroglyph is different from a painting. Instead of applying pigment to the surface of a rock, the ancient artist physically altered the stone by carving, pecking or grinding away part of its surface. The result could be a simple geometric shape or an incredibly complicated composition. These carvings are generally considered a form of symbolic communication and may have been connected with religion, social organization, territory, astronomy, rituals or the way ancient communities understood the world around them. The frustrating part for modern researchers is that there is no ancient Panamanian "Rosetta Stone" explaining what the symbols mean. We can look at them, photograph them and compare them with other archaeological evidence, but interpretation remains difficult.
One of the most important areas for studying this ancient rock art is Chiriquí. Researchers have documented numerous locations containing carved rocks throughout the province, including areas around Remedios, Boquete, Gualaca, San Félix, Tolé, Bugaba, Renacimiento and other districts. A survey published in 2013 identified 32 locations with petroglyphs in Chiriquí alone, demonstrating just how widespread this archaeological tradition is. Some sites are well known and protected, while others are located on private land or in places known primarily to local residents.
Perhaps the most famous collection is at El Nancito, in the district of Remedios. El Nancito is home to an archaeological park where visitors can see ancient carved stones, and the site has become an important part of Panama's archaeological heritage. The petroglyphs there are sometimes referred to as the "Piedras Pintadas," even though they are actually carved rather than painted. Several different styles and designs appear among the stones, which has led researchers to consider different possible interpretations of their purpose. Some theories have connected particular designs with territorial or astronomical ideas, while others have suggested ritual or fertility-related meanings. These interpretations should be treated as hypotheses rather than established facts, because the original creators left no written explanation of their symbols.
El Nancito is particularly important because the archaeological evidence isn't simply a collection of random rocks with scratches on them. The location, the arrangement of the stones and the different designs provide clues about how ancient people may have interacted with the landscape. Recent research at Remedios has identified seven archaeological sites containing a total of 38 carved rock masses, demonstrating that the area's rock art is considerably more extensive than a casual visitor might imagine. The research also emphasizes that the petroglyphs may preserve information about ancient spirituality, social life and territorial relationships.
Another fascinating area is Los Barriles, near Volcán in Chiriquí. This is one of the most important archaeological regions in western Panama and is famous for much more than petroglyphs. Archaeologists have found stone objects, sculptures and other evidence of an ancient society in the area. Some interpretations of the carved stones at Los Barriles have suggested that certain designs could represent landscapes or maps associated with the Volcán area. Whether or not every proposed interpretation is correct, the site demonstrates that the ancient inhabitants of Chiriquí were producing sophisticated symbolic art and organizing their world in ways we are still trying to understand.
The Piedras Pintadas of Caldera, in the Boquete area, provide another fascinating example. Caldera is already known today for its rivers, hot springs, mountains and natural scenery, but its landscape also contains evidence of people who lived in the region long before modern Panama existed. The carved stones are part of a much larger archaeological picture in Chiriquí, where researchers continue to document ancient sites and attempt to understand the cultures responsible for them.
And Chiriquí is certainly not the only place where these mysterious carvings can be found. Petroglyphs have been reported in Coclé, including areas around El Valle de Antón and La Pintada, as well as in Veraguas, including Soná, La Mesa, Calobre and other locations. Reports also exist from Herrera and other parts of Panama. One fascinating aspect of the country's archaeological record is that petroglyphs have been found across a remarkably large geographic area, suggesting that carving symbols into stone was a widespread tradition rather than something restricted to a single community.
One of the biggest mysteries is who made them. It is tempting to attach every ancient artifact to a specific Indigenous group known from historical accounts, but archaeologists have to be much more cautious. The people who created many of these carvings lived centuries or even millennia before Europeans arrived and before written records existed. We therefore cannot simply look at a petroglyph and confidently say, "This was made by this particular tribe." Researchers instead examine the surrounding archaeological evidence, the style of the carvings, nearby artifacts, settlement patterns and comparisons with other sites.
This is particularly important in Panama because the country's pre-Columbian history was incredibly diverse. Different societies occupied different parts of the isthmus at different times, traded with one another and influenced one another. Panama was not an isolated corner of the Americas. It was a crossroads between North and South America, and its ancient inhabitants participated in extensive networks of trade and cultural exchange.
The symbols themselves are what make the petroglyphs so captivating. Some appear almost like faces staring back at you from the stone. Others consist of spirals, concentric circles, lines, geometric patterns and shapes that are difficult to categorize. Occasionally, people see familiar objects in them and immediately decide what they represent. But archaeology requires caution. A shape that looks like an animal or a human face to a modern visitor may have had an entirely different meaning to the person who carved it.
That uncertainty is actually part of the magic.
Imagine standing beside one of these stones hundreds or thousands of years ago. You might have known exactly what every symbol meant. Perhaps the people around you understood the same visual language. Maybe a spiral represented something spiritual, a particular symbol marked a territory, or a carved face represented an ancestor or supernatural being. Maybe the stones were associated with ceremonies, astronomical observations or important places in the landscape. Today we can see the marks but have lost much of the language that gave them meaning.
Even the location of a petroglyph can be significant. Ancient people did not necessarily choose rocks randomly. A particular boulder beside a river, at the edge of a settlement, near a mountain or in a distinctive landscape could have held significance. Modern researchers therefore study not just the carving but also its surroundings. The relationship between the stone and the landscape may provide clues about why the site was chosen in the first place.
There is another fascinating possibility: some petroglyphs may have been created over long periods of time. A rock could have remained important to a community for generations, with different people adding new marks. That means a single stone might contain layers of history rather than one single artistic moment. Unfortunately, dating rock carvings directly is extremely difficult. As the municipality of Gualaca notes, researchers often have to rely on archaeological material found nearby or other contextual evidence, and even that does not necessarily provide a definitive date for the carving itself.
This makes Panama's petroglyphs especially valuable. They are a form of history that existed before written history. They don't tell us dates, names or political events in the way a written document does. Instead, they provide glimpses into the symbolic world of people who lived here long before Panama became a country.
There is also a fascinating connection with modern Indigenous traditions. Some petroglyphs have become incorporated into local oral traditions, including stories and interpretations passed down among Indigenous communities. Research has documented how some Ngäbe traditions, for example, incorporate petroglyphs into their own historical and cultural narratives. This means that the stones aren't necessarily just archaeological objects sitting silently in the landscape. For some communities, they remain part of a living cultural memory.
Unfortunately, these ancient carvings are vulnerable. Weather slowly erodes exposed rock. Plants grow over surfaces. Water, moss and lichen can obscure designs. Human activity can cause even more serious damage. Touching, scratching, painting, moving or attempting to "clean" a petroglyph can destroy information that cannot be replaced. Even something as innocent as tracing a carving with chalk or another substance can damage the surface.
This is why preservation is so important. In Remedios, several important archaeological sites, including the stones of El Nancito, Cerro La Valeria and the Río Santa Lucía petroglyphs, were declared historical monuments in 1984. The protection of these sites recognizes that they aren't simply interesting rocks. They are part of Panama's national heritage.
What is particularly exciting is that Panama probably still has much more to discover. Researchers and local communities continue to report previously undocumented carved stones and archaeological locations. A 2017 account of research into El Nancito noted that the known material represented only a small sample of the territory and that additional petroglyphs continued to come to light in different parts of Panama.
This means that the archaeological map of Panama is still being filled in. A rock that looks completely ordinary to someone driving past a farm or hiking along a river might actually contain evidence of an ancient community. In some places, local people have known about these stones for generations, while archaeologists have only recently begun studying them systematically.
For travelers, petroglyphs offer an entirely different way of experiencing Panama. The country is famous for beaches, rainforests, mountains, wildlife and the Panama Canal, but its archaeological heritage can be just as fascinating. Visiting a site such as El Nancito, Los Barriles or the ancient carved stones around Caldera allows you to look beyond the modern landscape and imagine the people who inhabited Panama thousands of years before today's cities, roads and borders existed.
Perhaps the most fascinating thing about Panama's petroglyphs is that they refuse to give us all the answers. We can identify patterns. We can compare symbols. We can study archaeological contexts. We can develop theories. But we cannot simply ask the person who carved the stone what they meant.
And that is what makes standing in front of one so powerful.
You are looking at a message deliberately carved into Panama's landscape by someone who wanted that mark to remain. The person who made it is gone. Their community may have disappeared or transformed. Their language may no longer be spoken. Their beliefs may have changed beyond recognition. Yet the stone remains, quietly carrying a fragment of their world.
Panama's petroglyphs are therefore more than ancient artwork. They are fragments of a conversation between the present and a very distant past. They remind us that Panama's history didn't begin with the Spanish, the Canal or even the modern Republic. Long before any of those things existed, people were living in these forests and mountains, navigating rivers, creating communities, practicing rituals and leaving their marks on the stones.
And thousands of years later, those mysterious marks are still waiting for us to understand them.