List of Muisca and pre-Muisca sites

The Altiplano Cundiboyacense hosts a variety of prehistorical to 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

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

Timeline of inhabitation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia
	Altiplano Muisca Confederation

List of Muisca and pre-Muisca sites

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]
		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

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

Bibliography

• Aceituno Bocanegra, Francisco Javier, and Sneider Rojas Mora. 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. Boletín de Antropología 28. 124-156. Accessed 2016-07-08.
• Cooke, Richard. 1998. Human settlement of Central America and northernmost South America (14,000-8000 BP). Quaternary International 49/50. 177-190.
• Correal Urrego, Gonzalo. 1990. Aguazuque: Evidence of hunter-gatherers and growers on the high plains of the Eastern Ranges, 1-316. Banco de la República: Fundación de Investigaciones Arqueológicas Nacionales. Accessed 2016-07-08.
• Groot de Mahecha, Ana María. 2014 (2008). Sal y poder en el altiplano de Bogotá, 1537-1640, 1-174. Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
• 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, 1-95. Banco de la República. Accessed 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.), 1-170. Université de Montréal. Accessed 2016-07-08.
• 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.). 2; Rupestreweb. Accessed 2016-07-08.
• Martínez Celis, Diego, and Álvaro Botiva Contreras. 2004a. Manual de arte rupestre de Cundinamarca - Manual of rock art of Cundinamarca, 1-60. ICANH.
• Martínez Celis, Diego, and Álvaro Botiva Contreras. 2004b. Introducción al arte rupestre, 1-28. ICANH.
• Martínez Martín, Abel Fernando, and Luz Martínez Santamaría. 2012. Sobre la momificación y los cuerpos momificados de los muiscas - On mummification and the mummified bodies of the Muisca. Revista Salud Historia Sanidad 1. 61-80.
• Martínez Martín, Abel Fernando; Fernardo Francisco Meléndez, and Fred Gustavo Manrique. 2010. Bio-anthropology and paleopathology of the SO10-IX Muisca mummy from Sátivanorte, Boyacá, Colombia. Colombia Médica 41. 112-120.
• Muñoz Castiblanco, Guillermo. 2013. Catalogación, registro sistemático y diagnóstico de las pinturas rupestres del Parque Arqueológico de Facatativá, 1-89. GIPRI.
• 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, 1-22.
• Ocampo López, Javier. 2007. Grandes culturas indígenas de América - Great indigenous cultures of the Americas, 1–238. Plaza & Janes Editores Colombia S.A..
• Silva Celis, Eliécer. 1981. Investigaciones en Villa de Leiva, 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. 275-291.
• N, N. s.a.. Cronologías de la región Muisca, 1-5. University of Pittsburgh. Accessed 2016-07-08.

Further reading

• Cardale de Schrimpff, Marianne. 1985. En busca de los primeros agricultores del Altiplano Cundiboyacense - Searching for the first farmers of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 99–125. Banco de la República. Accessed 2016-07-08.
• Paepe, Paul de, and Marianne Cardale de Schrimpff. 1990. Resultados de un estodio 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 _. 99-119. Accessed 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 19. 103-131.

Archaeological sites in Colombia
Prehistoric-preceramic	El Abra Tibitó Tequendama
Preceramic-ceramic	Aguazuque Checua Ciudad Perdida Lake Herrera El Infiernito Malagana Monsú El morro del tulcán Puerto Hormiga San Agustín Tierradentro