ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

Soacha Soacha is an autonomous municipality of the department of Cundinamarca in Colombia, and part of the Metropolitan Area of Bogotá. It has an important industrial zone and is home to mostly working-class families. Soacha borders Bojacá and Mosq ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Tequendama Falls The Tequendama Falls () is a high waterfall of the Bogotá River, located southwest of Bogotá in the municipality of Soacha. Named after the adjacent settlement of Tequendama, it holds historical significance as one of Colombia's earliest per ...

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

Bogotá savanna The Bogotá savanna is a savanna#Savanna ecoregions, montane savanna, located in the southwestern part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the center of Colombia. The Bogotá savanna has an extent of and an average altitude of . The savanna is si ...

Muisca The Muisca (also called the Chibcha) are indigenous peoples in Colombia and were a Pre-Columbian culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The Muisca spe ...

El Abra El Abra is the name given to an extensive archeological site, located in the valley of the same name. El Abra is situated in the east of the municipality Zipaquirá extending to the westernmost part of Tocancipá in the department of Cundinama ...

Zipaquirá Zipaquirá () is a municipality and city of Colombia in the department of Cundinamarca. Its neighboring municipalities are Cogua and Nemocón to the north; Tabio, Cajicá and Sopó to the south, Tocancipá and Gachancipá to the east and ...

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

palynologist Palynology is the study of microorganisms and microscopic fragments of mega-organisms that are composed of acid-resistant organic material and occur in sediments, sedimentary rocks, and even some metasedimentary rocks. Palynomorphs are the mic ...

Thomas van der Hammen Thomas van der Hammen (Schiedam, Netherlands, 27 September 1924 - Chía, Colombia, 12 March 2010) was a Dutch palaeontologist, botanist and geologist. He had published more than 160 works in five languages.archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

Gonzalo Correal Urrego Gonzalo Correal Urrego ( Gachalá, Colombia, 23 October 1939) is a Colombian anthropologist, palaeontologist and archaeologist.Muysccubun: "he who precipitates downward".

Background

During the time before the

Spanish conquest of the Muisca The Spanish conquest of the Muisca took place from 1537 to 1540. The Muisca people, Muisca were the inhabitants of the central Andes, Andean highlands of Colombia before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. They were organised in a loose M ...

, the central highlands of the Colombian

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

(

Altiplano Cundiboyacense The Altiplano Cundiboyacense () is a high plateau located in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes covering parts of the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá. (Do not confuse with The Altiplano or the Altiplano Nariñense, both fur ...

) were populated first by

prehistorical Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

indigenous groups There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

, then by people from the

Herrera Period The Herrera Period is a phase in the history of Colombia. It is part of the Andean preceramic and ceramic, time equivalent of the North American pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Formative stage, formative and classic stages and age dated by var ...

, and finally by the

Muisca The Muisca (also called the Chibcha) are indigenous peoples in Colombia and were a Pre-Columbian culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The Muisca spe ...

. Various sites of ancient population have been uncovered during the second half of the 20th and early 21st century, such as

Tibitó Tibitó is the second-oldest dated archaeological site on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia.Aguazuque Aguazuque is a pre-Columbian archaeological site located in the western part of the municipality Soacha, close to the municipalities Mosquera and San Antonio del Tequendama in Cundinamarca, Colombia. It exists of evidences of human settlement o ...

,

Checua Checua is a preceramic open area archaeological site in Nemocón, Cundinamarca, Colombia. The site is located north of the town centre.Gómez Mejía, 2012, p.146 At Checua, thousands of stone and bone tools, stone flakes and human remains hav ...

, El Abra and Tequendama.

Description

The site of Tequendama consists of four cave and overhang locations at close distance to each other, called Tequendama I (~11,000-10,000 years BP), II (9500-8300 BP), III (7000-6000 BP) and IV (2500-450 BP). The cave sites have been inhabited probably because of the access to fresh water; the

Bogotá River The Bogotá River is a major river of the Cundinamarca Department, Cundinamarca department of Colombia. A right tributary of the Magdalena River, the Bogotá River crosses the region from the northeast to the southwest and passing along the wester ...

currently flows very close to the site and also the Funza River was nearby. During the last phase, Tequendama IV, inside the caves and under the overhanging rocks, living constructions were built. At this time it was already

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

; evidence of the use of pottery was found. The

rock art In archaeology, rock arts are human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters; this type al ...

of Tequendama dates to this last phase. In an area, dated at around 2000 years BP, signs of domestication of guinea pigs have been found.Correal Urrego, 1990, p.13 The sites of Tequendama were probably inhabited by semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes of maximum 15 individuals. Fruits and

land snail A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have gastropod shell, shel ...

s were among the food of the people, together with deer and rodents. Areas with fire pits have been found, together with hunting tools, as well as evidence of food preparation and consumption. The most dominant knives, used as scraper tools, found in Tequendama II, III and IV, were also the predominant tools of Checua. More to the outside of the overhangs evidence of

animal skin Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation. Other animal coverings, such as the arthropod exoskeleton, have different ...

processing has been discovered. The waste was collected in a ditch outside of the overhangs.

Tequendama I

Tequendama I is situated at an altitude of and

radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for Chronological dating, determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of carbon-14, radiocarbon, a radioactive Isotop ...

has provided oldest ages between 12,500 and 10,100 years BP.Briceño Rosario, 2010, p.100 Occupation of Tequendama I continued until approximately 5000 years BP. The first inhabitants have been analysed with the help of the tools of

Quaternary geology Quaternary geology is the branch of geology that study developments from 2.58 million years ago to the present. In particular, Quaternary geology study the process and deposits that developed during the Quaternary, a period characterized by Glacial ...

, as well as using

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...

analysis; the dates of 12,500 to 11,000 years BP have been produced. At that time, the

paleoclimate Paleoclimatology ( British spelling, palaeoclimatology) is the scientific study of climates predating the invention of meteorological instruments, when no direct measurement data were available. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of ...

was less cold and more humid than today.

Lake Fúquene Lake Fúquene is a heart-shaped lake located in the Ubaté-Chiquinquirá Valley, part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, in the north of Cundinamarca, Colombia, at the border with Boyacá. The Andean lake, at an average altitude of , was considere ...

was overflowing rapidly on the Bogotá savanna during this Guantivá interstadial. During the next phase, of

El Abra El Abra is the name given to an extensive archeological site, located in the valley of the same name. El Abra is situated in the east of the municipality Zipaquirá extending to the westernmost part of Tocancipá in the department of Cundinama ...

, dated at 11,000 to 9500 years BP, the climate was colder again and the previously retreating

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

s in the

Eastern Ranges The Eastern Ranges is an Australian rules football team that currently competes in the Talent League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition. History Inaugural playing squad (1992) Honours *Premiers (2): 2002, 2013 *Runners-up (6): 199 ...

of the Colombian Andes were advancing. The people who inhabited the high plateau were hunter-gatherers and mainly consumed

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known Common name, commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, North, Central America, Central and South America. It is the ...

and

brocket deer Brockets or brocket deer are the species of deer in the genus ''Mazama''. They are medium to small in size, and are found in the Yucatán Peninsula, Central and South America, and the island of Trinidad. Most species are primarily found in fores ...

(40% of the remains found),Correal Urrego, 1990, p.7 and to a lesser extent cotton rats,

guinea pig The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy ( ), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus ''Cavia'', family Caviidae. Animal fancy, Breeders tend to use the name "cavy" for the ani ...

s,

cottontail rabbit Cottontail rabbits are in the ''Sylvilagus'' genus, which is in the family Leporidae. They are found in the Americas. Most ''Sylvilagus'' species have stub tails with white undersides that show when they retreat, giving them their characterist ...

s and other animals such as the

nine-banded armadillo The nine-banded armadillo (''Dasypus novemcinctus''), also called the nine-banded long-nosed armadillo or common long-nosed armadillo, is a species of armadillo native to North America, North, Central America, Central, and South America, making ...

,

tayra The tayra (''Eira barbara'') is an omnivorous animal from the mustelid family, native to the Americas. It is the only species in the genus ''Eira''. Tayras are also known as the ''tolomuco'' or ''perico ligero'' in Central America, ''motete'' ...

and

kinkajou The kinkajou ( /ˈkɪŋkədʒuː/ ''KING-kə-joo''; ''Potos flavus'') is a tropical rainforest mammal of the family Procyonidae related to olingos, coatis, raccoons, and the ringtail and cacomistle. It is the only member of the genus ''Pot ...

s.Correal Urrego, 1990, p.8 The bones found were in most cases fragmented which suggests the people were eating the

bone marrow Bone marrow is a semi-solid biological tissue, tissue found within the Spongy bone, spongy (also known as cancellous) portions of bones. In birds and mammals, bone marrow is the primary site of new blood cell production (or haematopoiesis). It i ...

and used them as tools and decoration. Different from the Colombian site of

Tibitó Tibitó is the second-oldest dated archaeological site on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia.Pleistocene megafauna The Late Pleistocene to the beginning of the Holocene saw the extinction of the majority of the world's megafauna, typically defined as animal species having body masses over , which resulted in a collapse in faunal density and diversity acro ...

have been found.Briceño Rosario, 2010, p.101 Following the colder phase, as of 10,000 or 9500 years BP, the Andean forests returned and more evidences of rodents and less of deer have been found at Tequendama.Correal Urrego, 1990, p.10 The tools, mainly made of

chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a prec ...

, found at Tequendama I are the result of careful elaboration, more so than at El Abra. More than half of the tools found were primitive knives. From the 6th millennium BCE (8000 years BP) onwards, the rock shelter areas were less populated; the population seems to have shifted to the plains of the Bogotá savanna. Twenty bone samples analysed at Tequendama were predominantly males (60%). Children (20%) and women (15%) formed a minor fraction of the remains found. More than 95% of the bones were intact. Evidence of funeral practices have been found at Tequendama. The traditional way of burying the bodies was with their heads towards the east.

Named after Tequendama

Tequendama appears in various present-day names. The public parking company, Parqueaderos Tequendama Ltda., founded in 1985, is named after Tequendama.Parqueaderos Tequendama Ltda
- official website *

Tequendama Falls The Tequendama Falls () is a high waterfall of the Bogotá River, located southwest of Bogotá in the municipality of Soacha. Named after the adjacent settlement of Tequendama, it holds historical significance as one of Colombia's earliest per ...

(''Salto del Tequendama'') - high waterfall to the west of the Bogotá savanna in the Bogotá River *

Tequendama Falls Museum The Tequendama Falls Museum of Biodiversity and Culture (Spanish: ''Casa Museo Salto de Tequendama Biodiversidad y Cultura'') is a museum and mansion in San Antonio del Tequendama, Colombia. The museum overlooks Tequendama Falls on the Bogot� ...

- museum and former hotel overlooking the waterfall * Tequendama Province - the province around the falls *

San Antonio del Tequendama San Antonio del Tequendama is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Tequendama Province part of the department of Cundinamarca. The municipality is located along the ''Serranía de Subía'' in the Tena Valley and borders Tena and Bojacá ...

- municipality and capital of the Tequendama Province *

Hotel Tequendama Hotel Tequendama & Centro de Convenciones (Convention Center) is an historic hotel in Bogotá, Colombia. It is located in the San Diego neighborhood of the town of Santa Fe at the intersection of Tenth Avenue and Twenty-Sixth Avenue. The hotel ...

- famous hotel in the centre of Bogotá

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * *

External links

*
Tequendama and other archaeological sites on Rupestreweb
{{Muisca navbox, Geography and history, state=expanded Pleistocene Colombia Pleistocene paleontological sites of South America Andean preceramic Former populated places in Colombia Archaeological sites of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense Rock art in South America Tourist attractions in Cundinamarca Department Soacha