Carlos Fitzgerald, director of National Historical Patrimony for the National Institute of Culture (INAC), is an archaeologist who specializes in pre-Columbian studies. These days he's mostly in the news in relation to a site off Playa Dama, at which are found the remains of an old ship that may or may not be Columbus's Vizcaina. Fitzgerald and INAC were delayed in paying attention to the shipwreck off of Colon's Costa Arriba because they at the time they first heard about it they had allocated their scarce time and resources to other promising sites in Panama's western and central provinces.

Now Fitzgerald has another place to visit in Colon, and this time it's closer to his field of expertise. In a cave not far from Madden Lake in the Colon province community of Nuevo San Juan, a local resident identified a pre-Columbian ceremonial and burial site that had been previously looted by huaqueros, who left enough of the burial urns and other ceramics to allow Fitzgerald to estimate the site's date at about 1000 AD. The 150-meter cave, which has several chambers, may have even older artifacts buried within. Fitzgerald is now busy overseeing an inventory of everything found, before any digging or further explorations begin.

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