List of Muisca and pre-Muisca sites
This is a list of Muisca and pre-Muisca archaeological sites; sites on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, where archaeological evidence has been discovered of the Muisca and their ancestors of the Herrera, preceramic and prehistorical periods.
Over the course of the centuries and mainly in the 21st century, many sites with evidences of Muisca and pre-Muisca presence have been found and reported.[1][2][3][4][5]
The possibly oldest evidence of human settlement in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes has been discovered just west of the former Muisca territories, at Pubenza in Tocaima, Cundinamarca. Eight stone tools have been found with bone remains, consisting of among others Haplomastodon and turtles, which have been dated at 16,400 ± 420 years BP. Due to the location at an inundated platform, it is unclear if the bones and thus age were in situ.[6]
Background
[edit]Stage | Start age | End age |
---|---|---|
Prehistory | 10,000
| |
Preceramic | 10,000
|
2800
|
Herrera | 2800
|
1200
|
Muisca | 1200
|
479
|
Colonial period | 479
|
206
|
Colombia | 206
|
The Altiplano Cundiboyacense, with its valleys of Sogamoso-Duitama, Tunja and Ubaté-Chiquinquirá and the southeastern flatlands of the Bogotá savanna, as well as the Tenza Valley to the east, was inhabited for 12,000 years by indigenous peoples. At the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, the area of approximately 25,000 square kilometres (9,700 sq mi) was populated by the Muisca, organised in a loose confederation; the Muisca Confederation.
While various classifications of the archaeological history of the Andean high plateau exist,[7] the most commonly accepted sequence, in years BP, is shown to the right.
Timeline of inhabitation
[edit]Timeline of inhabitation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia | |
List of Muisca and pre-Muisca sites
[edit]Site name | Image | Municipality | Department | Start | End | Oldest date years BP |
Finds | Notes | Map |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
El Abra | Zipaquirá | Cundinamarca | Prehistory | Herrera | 12,560 | Rock art Stone tools |
[1] | ||
Tibitó | Tocancipá | Cundinamarca | Prehistory | Herrera | 11,850 | Stone & bone tools Carbon |
[1] | ||
Sueva | Junín | Cundinamarca | Prehistory | Herrera | 11,180 | Rock shelter | [1] | ||
Tequendama | Soacha | Cundinamarca | Prehistory | Spanish conquest | 11,120 | Stone tools Domestication of guinea pigs |
[1] | ||
Piedras del Tunjo | Facatativá | Cundinamarca | Prehistory or Preceramic |
Muisca | unknown | Rock art Stone tools |
[3] | ||
Galindo | Bojacá | Cundinamarca | Preceramic | Herrera | 8800 | Open area settlement | [1] | ||
Checua | Nemocón | Cundinamarca | Preceramic | Herrera | 8500 | Stone tools | [1][8] | ||
Nemocón | Cundinamarca | Preceramic | 7630 | Rock shelter Main salt producing town |
[1] | ||||
Piedra del Indio Chía I-VIII Moon Temple |
Chía | Cundinamarca | Preceramic | 5140 | Rock art Burial site Religious place |
[1][9] | |||
Zipaquirá | Cundinamarca | Preceramic | 5140 | Main salt producing town | [1][10] | ||||
Aguazuque | Soacha | Cundinamarca | Preceramic | Herrera | 4065 | Stone tools Burial grounds Human remains Guinea pigs, deer |
[1][11] | ||
Lake Herrera | Madrid Mosquera Bojacá |
Cundinamarca | Preceramic | Herrera | 3410 | Stone tools Ceramics |
[12] | ||
SO10-IX | Sativanorte | Boyacá | Preceramic | Preceramic | 3386 | Muisca mummy | [13] | ||
Zipacón | Cundinamarca | Preceramic | 3270 | Rock shelter Rock art Oldest agriculture |
[1] | ||||
El Infiernito | Villa de Leyva | Boyacá | Preceramic | Muisca | 2975 | Archaeoastronomical site Muisca mummy |
[14][15] | ||
Pasca | Cundinamarca | Herrera | 1400 | Muisca raft | [16] | ||||
Buenavista | Boyacá | Herrera | 1396 | Nose piece and pectoral dated at 620 & 990 AD |
[17] | ||||
Suesca | Cundinamarca | Muisca | 150 Muisca mummies Petrographs Ceramics |
[2][3][4] [5][14] |
|||||
Gachantivá | Boyacá | Muisca | Muisca mummy Muisca copper mines |
[18][19][14] | |||||
Gachancipá | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Muisca mummy | [14] | |||||
Ubaté | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Muisca mummy | [14] | |||||
Tenjo | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Tibacuy | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Berbeo | Boyacá | Muisca | Petroglyphs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Sáchica | Boyacá | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Ocetá Páramo | Monguí | Boyacá | Muisca | Petroglyphs Birth sites Myths |
[20] | ||||
Payará | Tausa | Cundinamarca | [21] | ||||||
Choachí | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Choachí Stone | [22] | |||||
La Calera | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Chipaque | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Cogua | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Cota | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Cucunubá | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Guachetá | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Guasca | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Guatavita | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Machetá | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Madrid | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Mosquera | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
San Antonio del Tequendama |
Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
San Francisco | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Sibaté | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Subachoque | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Tena | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Tibiritá | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Tocancipá | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Une | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Bosa | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Usme | Cundinamarca | Muisca | Muisca mummy Petrographs |
[2][3][4] [5][14] |
|||||
Boavita | Boyacá | Muisca | Muisca mummy | [14] | |||||
Tasco | Boyacá | Muisca | Muisca mummy | [14] | |||||
Tópaga | Boyacá | Muisca | Muisca mummy | [14] | |||||
Gámeza | Boyacá | Muisca | Muisca mummy Petrographs |
[2][3][4] [5][14] |
|||||
Belén | Boyacá | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Iza | Boyacá | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Mongua | Boyacá | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Motavita | Boyacá | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Ramiriquí | Boyacá | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Saboyá | Boyacá | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Tibaná | Boyacá | Muisca | Petrographs | [2][3][4][5] | |||||
Sutamarchán | Boyacá | Muisca | Muisca ceramics production | [19] | |||||
Tinjacá | Boyacá | Muisca | Muisca ceramics production | [19] | |||||
Sun Temple | Sogamoso | Boyacá | Muisca | September 1537 | Most important Muisca temple | [23] | |||
Cojines del Zaque | Tunja | Boyacá | Muisca | Early colonial | Religious place | [24] | |||
Hunzahúa Well | Tunja | Boyacá | Muisca | Early colonial | Mythological place | [25] | |||
Goranchacha Temple | Tunja | Boyacá | Muisca | Early colonial | Temple of Goranchacha | [26] |
See also
[edit]- List of Muisca research institutes, archaeological sites in Colombia
- Muisca art
- Muisca Confederation, economy
- Lake Guatavita, Tota, Iguaque, Suesca, Fúquene, Siecha Lakes, Tequendama Falls
- List of Maya sites
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l (in Spanish) Caracterización de los sitios arqueológicos Sabana de Bogotá - ICANH
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai Muñoz Castiblanco, 2006, p.10
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj Martínez & Botiva, 2004a
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai López Estupiñán, 2011
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai Martínez & Botiva, 2004b, p.15
- ^ Aceituno & Rojas, 2012, p.128
- ^ N.N., s.a.
- ^ Groot de Mahecha, 1992, p.7
- ^ Muñoz Castiblanco, 2013
- ^ Groot de Mahecha, 2008
- ^ Correal Urrego, 1990
- ^ (in Spanish) Colombia Prehispánica - V. La Altiplanicie Cundiboyacense
- ^ Martínez et al., 2010
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Valverde, 2007, p.280
- ^ Silva Celis, 1981, p.12
- ^ (in Spanish) Official website Pasca
- ^ Martínez & Martínez, 2012
- ^ a b c Ocampo López, 2007
- ^ (in Spanish) Objeciones del páramo más lindo del mundo - Universidad Sergio Arboleda
- ^ Groot de Mahecha, 1992, p.5
- ^ Izquierdo Peña, 2009, p.87
- ^ (in Spanish) Temple of the Sun - Sogamoso - Pueblos Originarios
- ^ (in Spanish) Archaeology of the Cojines del Zaque Archived 2016-06-02 at the Wayback Machine - Banco de la República
- ^ (in Spanish) Hunzahúa Well - Pueblos Originarios
- ^ (in Spanish) Goranchacha - Pueblos Originarios
Bibliography
[edit]- Aceituno Bocanegra, Francisco Javier; Rojas Mora, Sneider (2012), "Del Paleoindio al Formativo: 10.000 años para la historia de la tecnología lítica en Colombia - From the Paleoindian to the Formative Stage: 10,000 years for the history of lithic technology in Colombia" (PDF), Boletín de Antropología (in Spanish), 28 (43), University of Antioquia: 124–156, ISSN 0120-2510, retrieved 2016-07-08
- Cooke, Richard (1998), "Human settlement of Central America and northernmost South America (14,000-8000 BP)", Quaternary International, 49/50 (1), Pergamon: 177–190, Bibcode:1998QuInt..49..177C, doi:10.1016/S1040-6182(97)00062-1, ISSN 1040-6182
- Correal Urrego, Gonzalo (1990), Aguazuque: Evidence of hunter-gatherers and growers on the high plains of the Eastern Ranges (PDF) (in Spanish), Bogotá, Colombia: Banco de la República: Fundación de Investigaciones Arqueológicas Nacionales, pp. 1–316, retrieved 2016-07-08
- Groot de Mahecha, Ana María (2014) [2008], Sal y poder en el altiplano de Bogotá, 1537-1640 (in Spanish), Universidad Nacional de Colombia, pp. 1–174, ISBN 978-958-719-046-5
- Groot de Mahecha, Ana María (1992), Checua: Una secuencia cultural entre 8500 y 3000 años antes del presente - Checua: a cultural sequence between 8500 and 3000 years before present, Banco de la República, pp. 1–95, retrieved 2016-07-08
- Izquierdo Peña, Manuel Arturo (2009), The Muisca Calendar: An approximation to the timekeeping system of the ancient native people of the northeastern Andes of Colombia (M.A.), Université de Montréal, pp. 1–170, arXiv:0812.0574
- López Estupiñán, Laura (2011), Topando piedras, sumercé. Narraciones en torno a las piedras de Iza y Gámeza, Boyacá, Colombia - Bumping into stones, mister. Tales around the stones of Iza and Gámeza, Boyacá, Colombia (M.A.) (M.A.) (in Spanish), vol. 2, Rupestreweb, retrieved 2016-07-08
- Martínez Celis, Diego; Botiva Contreras, Álvaro (2004a), Manual de arte rupestre de Cundinamarca - Manual of rock art of Cundinamarca (in Spanish), ICANH, pp. 1–60, ISBN 958-8181-07-0
- Martínez Celis, Diego; Botiva Contreras, Álvaro (2004b), Introducción al arte rupestre (in Spanish), ICANH, pp. 1–28
- Martínez Martín, Abel Fernando; Martínez Santamaría, Luz (2012), "Sobre la momificación y los cuerpos momificados de los muiscas - On mummification and the mummified bodies of the Muisca", Revista Salud Historia Sanidad, 7 (in Spanish), 1: 61–80, ISSN 1909-2407
- Martínez Martín, Abel Fernando; Meléndez, Fernardo Francisco; Manrique, Fred Gustavo (2010), "Bio-anthropology and paleopathology of the SO10-IX Muisca mummy from Sátivanorte, Boyacá, Colombia", Colombia Médica, 41 (2), Universidad del Valle: 112–120, ISSN 1657-9534
- Muñoz Castiblanco, Guillermo (2013), Catalogación, registro sistemático y diagnóstico de las pinturas rupestres del Parque Arqueológico de Facatativá (in Spanish), GIPRI, pp. 1–89
- Muñoz Castiblanco, Guillermo (2006), Pinturas rupestres en el Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia - concentración y diversidad en la Sabana de Bogotá: Municipio de Suacha-Sibaté Cundinamarca - Rock paintings on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia - concentration and diversity on the Bogotá savanna: municipality of Soacha-Sibaté, Cundinamarca (in Spanish), pp. 1–22
- Ocampo López, Javier (2007), Grandes culturas indígenas de América - Great indigenous cultures of the Americas (in Spanish), Bogotá, Colombia: Plaza & Janes Editores Colombia S.A., pp. 1–238, ISBN 978-958-14-0368-4
- Silva Celis, Eliécer (1981), Investigaciones en Villa de Leiva (in Spanish), pp. 1–18
- Valverde, Alejandra (2007), "Prácticas funerarias desde la arqueología: El caso de las momias de la Sierra Nevada del Cocuy - Funerary practices in archaeology: The study of Sierra Nevada del Cocuy's mummies, Colombia", Antípoda, 5, Universidad de los Andes: 275–291, doi:10.7440/antipoda5.2007.12, ISSN 1900-5407
- Cronologías de la región Muisca (PDF), University of Pittsburgh, pp. 1–5, retrieved 2016-07-08
Further reading
[edit]- Cardale de Schrimpff, Marianne (1985), En busca de los primeros agricultores del Altiplano Cundiboyacense - Searching for the first farmers of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense (PDF) (in Spanish), Bogotá, Colombia: Banco de la República, pp. 99–125, retrieved 2016-07-08
- Paepe, Paul de; Cardale de Schrimpff, Marianne (1990), "Resultados de un estudio petrológico de cerámicas del Periodo Herrera provenientes de la Sabana de Bogotá y sus implicaciones arqueológicas - Results of a petrological study of ceramics form the Herrera Period coming from the Bogotá savanna and its archaeological implications", Boletín Museo del Oro (in Spanish), Museo del Oro: 99–119, retrieved 2016-07-08
- Rodríguez, José Vicente (2005), "De la sabana a la selva - Un yacimiento formativo ritual en el entorno de la antigua laguna de La Herrera, Madrid, Cundinamarca - From the savanna to the jungle - a ritual formative site in the surroundings of the ancient Lake Herrera, Madrid", Maguaré (in Spanish), 19, Universidad Nacional de Colombia: 103–131