This is a list of Muisca and pre-Muisca archaeological sites; sites on 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 Alt ...
, where archaeological evidence has been discovered 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 ...
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.
[Caracterización de los sitios arqueológicos Sabana de Bogotá]
- ICANH
The Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History ( es, Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia), ICANH, is a scientific and technical government agency ascribed to the Ministry of Culture in charge of researching, producing and dissemi ...
[Muñoz Castiblanco, 2006, p.10][Martínez & Botiva, 2004a][López Estupiñán, 2011][Martínez & Botiva, 2004b, p.15]
The possibly oldest evidence of human settlement in the
Eastern Ranges
The Eastern Ranges is an Australian rules football team in the NAB League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition.
The club is a founding member of the competition (1992) and has produced several players for the Australian Football Leag ...
of the 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 discovered just west of the former Muisca territories, at
Pubenza in
Tocaima
Tocaima () refers to both a city and a municipality in Cundinamarca, Colombia.
City
The city of Tocaima was founded on March 20, 1544 as San Dionisio de los Caballeros de Tocaima by the Spanish explorer Hernán Venegas Carrillo. This small city ...
,
Cundinamarca. Eight stone tools have been found with bone remains, consisting of among others ''
Haplomastodon
''Notiomastodon'' is an extinct proboscidean genus of gomphotheres (a distant relative to modern elephants) endemic to South America from the Pleistocene to the beginning of the Holocene. ''Notiomastodon'' specimens reached a size similar to t ...
'' 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
''In situ'' (; often not italicized in English) is a Latin phrase that translates literally to "on site" or "in position." It can mean "locally", "on site", "on the premises", or "in place" to describe where an event takes place and is used in ...
''.
[Aceituno & Rojas, 2012, p.128]
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Background
The Altiplano Cundiboyacense, with its valleys of Sogamoso-Duitama, Tunja and
Ubaté-Chiquinquirá and the southeastern flatlands of 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 ...
, as well as the
Tenza Valley
The Tenza Valley (Spanish: ''Valle de Tenza'') is an intermontane valley in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The valley stretches over the southeastern part of the department of Boyacá and the northeastern part of Cundinamarca. It ...
to the east, was inhabited for 12,000 years by indigenous peoples. At the
arrival of the Spanish conquistadors
Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, ...
, the area of approximately was populated by 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 ...
, organised in a loose confederation; the
Muisca Confederation.
While various classifications of the archaeological history of the
Andean
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 l ...
high plateau exist,
[N.N., s.a.] the most commonly accepted sequence, in years BP, is shown to the right.
Timeline of inhabitation
List of Muisca and pre-Muisca sites
See also
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List of Muisca research institutes
This is a list of institutes providing research into the Muisca. The three most important universities in Bogotá have a department of anthropology to study the indigenous cultures of Colombia. While international research compared to the In ...
,
archaeological sites in Colombia
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 landscapes ...
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Muisca art
This article describes the art produced by the Muisca. The Muisca established one of the four grand civilisations of the pre-Columbian Americas on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in present-day central Colombia. Their various forms of art have bee ...
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Muisca Confederation,
economy
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...
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Lake Guatavita
Lake Guatavita (Spanish: ''Laguna Guatavita'') is located in the Cordillera Oriental of the Colombian Andes in the municipality of Sesquilé in the Almeidas Province, Cundinamarca department of Colombia, northeast of Bogotá, the capital of ...
,
Tota,
Iguaque,
Suesca,
Fúquene
Fúquene is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Departments of Colombia, department of Cundinamarca Department, Cundinamarca. The municipality borders Ubaté, Susa, Cundinamarca, Susa, Guachetá and the department of Boyacá Department, Boya ...
,
Siecha Lakes
The Siecha Lakes are three glacial lakes located in the Chingaza Natural National Park in Cundinamarca, Colombia. The Andean lakes are considered sacred in the religion of the Muisca who inhabited the area before the Spanish conquest of the Mu ...
,
Tequendama Falls
The Tequendama Falls () is a high waterfall of the Bogotá River, located southwest of Bogotá in the municipality of Soacha. Established in approximately 10,000 BCE, El Abra and Tequendama were the first permanent settlements in Colombia. ...
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List of Maya sites
This list of Maya sites is an alphabetical listing of a number of significant archaeological sites associated with the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.
The peoples and cultures which comprised the Maya civilization spanned more ...
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
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{{Muisca navbox, Geography and history, state=expanded
Sites
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 ...
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