The Herrera Period is a phase in the

history of Colombia The history of Colombia includes the settlements and society by indigenous peoples, most notably, the Muisca Confederation, Quimbaya Civilization, and Tairona Chiefdoms; the Spanish arrived in 1492 and initiated a period of annexation and coloni ...

. It is part of the

Andean preceramic The Andean preceramic refers to the early period of human occupation in the Andean area of South America that preceded the introduction of ceramics. This period is also called pre-ceramic or aceramic. Earliest human occupations The earliest huma ...

and

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, porcelain ...

, time equivalent of the

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

formative and

classic stage In archaeological cultures of North America, the classic stage is the theoretical North and Meso-American societies that existed between AD 500 and 1200. This stage is the fourth of five stages posited by Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips' 1958 ...

s and age dated by various

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

s.Chronology of pre-Columbian periods: Herrera and Muisca
/ref> The Herrera Period predates the age of the

Muisca The Muisca (also called Chibcha) are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan langu ...

, who inhabited the

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. The altiplano corresponds to the ancient territory of the Muisca. The Alti ...

before the

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

and postdates the

prehistory Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

of the region in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. The Herrera Period is usually defined as ranging from 800 BCE to 800 CE, although some scholars date it as early as 1500 BCE. Ample evidence of the Herrera Period has been uncovered on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense. The main archaeologists contributing to the present knowledge about the Herrera Period are the

scholars A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher ...

Ana María Groot Ana María Groot de Mahecha ( Bogotá, 29 August 1952) is a Colombian historian, archaeologist, anthropologist and associate professor at the Department of Anthropology of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Ana Mariá Groot speaks Spanish, Eng ...

Gonzalo Correal Urrego Gonzalo Correal Urrego ( Gachalá, Colombia, 23 October 1939) is a Colombian anthropologist, palaeontologist and archaeologist.

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.Carl Henrik Langebaek Rueda,

Sylvia M. Broadbent Sylvia Marguerite Broadbent (London, United Kingdom, 26 February 1932 - Arlington, California, United States, 30 July 2015) was an American anthropologist and professor, specializing in Amerindian peoples. Early life Broadbent was born in Lon ...

, and Marianne Cardale de Schrimpff.

Etymology

The Herrera Period is named after

Lake Herrera Lake Herrera is a small lake located at from the urban centre of Mosquera and about west of the capital Bogotá in Cundinamarca, Colombia. The Andean lake has made its name in the Herrera Period, the period in the history of central Colombia b ...

(''Laguna de la Herrera'') where archaeologist Silvia Broadbent performed the first excavations on the Herrera Period in 1971. Lake Herrera is one of the many remnants of the ancient

Lake Humboldt Lake Humboldt or Humboldt Lake is an endorheic basin lake in northern Churchill County and southern Pershing County in the state of Nevada in the United States. The lake has the name of Alexander von Humboldt, a German natural scientist. The la ...

, a

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

lake that existed on the

Bogotá savanna The Bogotá savanna is a 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 situated in the Eastern Range ...

. The lake with an approximate surface area of is situated at an altitude of within the boundaries of the Cundinamarca

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Mosquera Mosquera is a Spanish surname (first name) originally from Galicia (Spain). The family crest states (Spanish) Gallego. It derives from the mansion of the family's founder, Ramiro de Mosquera. In the fifth century, it was already linked to ''Moscos ...

, close to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

and

Bojacá Bojacá is a municipality and town of the Western Savanna Province, Colombia in the department of Cundinamarca. The urban centre is situated at an altitude of on the Bogotá savanna at from the capital Bogotá. The municipality borders Zipacón, ...

. The site of Lake Herrera (''Laguna de la Herrera'') is close to the archaeological site of

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 of ...

Background

The region of the Herrea Period and later

Muisca Confederation The Muisca Confederation was a loose confederation of different Muisca rulers (''zaques'', ''zipas'', '' iraca'', and ''tundama'') in the central Andean highlands of present-day Colombia before the Spanish conquest of northern South America. The ...

, the Altiplano Cundiboyacense; high plateau of the central Colombian

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

has been inhabited since 12,400 years BP. The earliest evidence for inhabitation ( lithic tools) are found in

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 Cundinamar ...

and

Tequendama Tequendama is a preceramic and ceramic archaeological site located southeast of Soacha, Cundinamarca, Colombia, a couple of kilometers east of Tequendama Falls. It consists of multiple evidences of late Pleistocene to middle Holocene populati ...

. This lithic period is roughly defined as from 12,400 to 1000 BCE. Later sites are

and

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 have ...

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

started around 5000 years before present which led to the development of more complex societies, of which the Herrera Period is one of many in the

Andean civilization The Andean civilizations were complex societies of many cultures and peoples mainly developed in the river valleys of the coastal deserts of Peru. They stretched from the Andes of southern Colombia southward down the Andes to Chile and northwe ...

s. Early evidence of inhabitation has been found in

Zipacón Zipacón () is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Western Savanna Province, part of the department of Cundinamarca. The urban centre of Zipacón is situated at an altitude of on the Bogotá savanna, the southern flatlands of the Altipla ...

and is dated at 3270 BCE. From the Herrera Period ceramic has been found. The oldest ceramic evidence found dates to 2500 BP (500 BCE), except for one piece found near Tocarema and dated at 2750 BP. The people from the Herrera Period performed agriculture, as evidenced in among others the Thomas van der Hammen Reserve, named after

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

and

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

Tairona Tairona (or Tayrona) was a Pre-Columbian culture of Colombia, which consisted in a group of chiefdoms in the region of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in present-day Cesar, Magdalena and La Guajira Departments of Colombia, South America, which g ...

Archaeological sites

Archaeological evidence of the Herrera Period has been found in numerous places on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, among others in

Sopó Sopó is a municipality and town of Colombia in the department of Cundinamarca. The town is located 39 km north of the Colombian capital Bogotá. History The area of Sopó was inhabited first by indigenous groups during the Herrera Per ...

,Herrera Period evidence in Sopó
/ref>

Soacha , image_map = Colombia - Cundinamarca - Soacha.svg , map_caption = Location of Soacha in Cundinamarca , pushpin_map = Colombia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_nam ...

Usme Usme is the 5th locality of the Capital District of Bogotá, capital city of Colombia. Usme is located in the south of Bogotá, bordering to the north the localities of San Cristóbal, Rafael Uribe Uribe and Tunjuelito, to the west the locali ...

, Iza,

Gámeza Gámeza () is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the Sugamuxi Province, a subregion of Boyacá. The town center is located at from Sogamoso and the municipality borders Tasco and Corrales in the north, T ...

Facatativá Facatativá is a city and municipality in the Cundinamarca Department, located about 18 miles (31 km) northwest of Bogotá, Colombia and 2,586 meters above sea level. The city is known for its Archaeological Park Piedras del Tunjo (Rocks ...

(

Piedras del Tunjo Archaeological Park Piedras del Tunjo (Spanish for "Tunjo Rocks") is an important archaeological park established on a natural rock shelter west of Bogotá in the municipality of Facatativá. Description In the Late Pleistocene, the site used to be the shor ...

), Moniquirá (''

El Infiernito ''El Infiernito'' (Spanish for "The Little Hell"), is a pre-Columbian archaeoastronomical site located on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense The Altiplano Cundiboyacense () is a high plateau located in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes ...

''), Chía, Chita,

Chiscas Chiscas is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the subregion of the Gutiérrez Province. Born in Chiscas * Cristóbal Pérez Cristóbal Pérez (born 23 August 1952) is a Colombian former professional ...

Soatá Soatá is a town and municipality in Boyacá Department, Colombia. Soatá is located on the western slopes of the Cordillera Oriental mountain range, at the northeast end of the Department of Boyacá. It is the capital of the Northern Boyacá P ...

, Jericó,

Sativasur Sativasur is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the subregion of the Northern Boyacá Province. It is approximately 132 km from Tunja, the capital of the department. Sativasur borders the municipalities Sa ...

Covarachía Covarachía is a town and municipality in the Northern Boyacá Province, part of the Colombian Department of Boyacá. The urban centre is located at from the department capital Tunja at an altitude of in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian An ...

Sativanorte Sativanorte is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the subregion of the Northern Boyacá Province. Sativanorte borders Susacón in the north, in the south Sativasur and Tutazá, in the west Onzaga of th ...

and

El Cocuy El Cocuy () is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the sub-region of the Gutiérrez Province. The national natural park El Cocuy National Park is nearby. Born in El Cocuy * Santos Gutiérrez José S ...

. The site in Soacha is one of the most important finds from the Herrera Period, dating from 400 BCE onwards, into the age of the Muisca.Adriaan Alsema
Archaeologists uncover remains of pre-Columbian village in central Colombia.
November 1, 2014Dating of the Soacha Herrera Period site
At the site the remains of 2200 individual people, 274 complete

pots, stone tools, seeds of

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

bean A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...

s and

curuba Banana passionfruit (''Passiflora'' supersect. ''Tacsonia''), also known as taxo and curuba, is a group of around 64 ''Passiflora'' species found in South America. Most species in this section are found in high elevation cloud forest habitats. Flo ...

, 634 fragmented and intact spindles and 100 ''

tunjo A ''tunjo'' (from Muysccubun: ''chunso'') is a small anthropomorh or zoomorph figure elaborated by the Muisca as part of their art. ''Tunjos'' were made of gold or ''tumbaga''; a gold-silver-copper alloy. The Muisca used their ''tunjos'' ...

s'' not used for offerings have been found in Soacha.

Timeline

Classifications

Over the years and based on new findings, various authors have defined periods of Herrera and Muisca. Regional variations also exist, listed below.

Regional variations

Western slopes of the Eastern Ranges

Boyacá

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * *

External links

{{Muisca navbox, Geography and history, state=expanded 2 Archaic period in the Americas