Aguazuque

Aguazuque

Location within Colombia
Location	Soacha, Cundinamarca
Region	Bogotá savanna, Altiplano Cundiboyacense,  Colombia
Coordinates	4°36′08″N 74°16′35″W / 4.60222°N 74.27639°W / 4.60222; -74.27639
Altitude	2,601 m (8,533 ft)
Type	Open area settlement
Part of	Pre-Muisca sites
Area	76 m2 (820 sq ft)
History
Periods	Andean preceramic-Herrera
Cultures	Herrera
Site notes
Archaeologists	Correal
Public access	Yes

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 hunter-gatherers and in the ultimate phase primitive farmers. The site is situated on the Bogotá savanna, the relatively flat highland of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense close to the present-day course of the Bogotá River at an altitude of 2,600 metres (8,500 ft) above sea level. Aguazuque is just north of another Andean preceramic archaeological site; the rock shelter Tequendama and a few kilometres south of Lake Herrera. The artefacts found mostly belong to the preceramic period, and have been dated to 5025 to 2725 BP (3000 to 700 BCE). Thus, the younger finds also pertain to the later ceramic Herrera Period. There were some difficulties in dating of the uppermost layer due to modern agricultural activity in the area; the sediments of the shallower parts were disturbed.

At Aguazuque multiple palaeoanthropological finds have been made; stone and bone tools, remains of fireplaces and a multitude of pre-Columbian foods, primitive circular housing, various burial sites of individual and group interments and in the youngest dated layers, evidences of ceramics.

The site represents a transition from a hunter-gatherer culture towards the earliest evidence of agriculture. A phase of settlement is attested where the people moved away from the caves and rock shelters and started inhabiting open area grounds.

Investigation of Aguazuque has been conducted since 1986, mainly by

The site Aguazuque is named after the Hacienda Aguazuque that was built west of the capital Bogotá in the early 17th century.^[3]

Background

Checua

Lake Herrera

Tequendama

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Aguazuque and other preceramic sites on the Bogotá savanna

The

Soacha, today the most populated satellite city of the Colombian capital, was an important location for pre-Columbian settlement. Apart from Aguazuque, various other sites have been discovered in the vicinity of Soacha. For example, in 2014, the largest pre-Columbian town has been discovered in Soacha, with the remains of 2200 people, more than 600 ceramic pots and various spindles and tunjos.^{[7][8][9][10]}

The name Soacha is derived from the Muysccubun words for Sun; Súa (with the Sun god Sué) and man; chá.^[11]

Aguazuque

The archaeological remains of Aguazuque were found in an oval elevated area west of the Bogotá River, that forms a bend around this higher ground. Aguazuque is located on the southwestern part of the Bogotá savanna and is surrounded by higher hills reaching altitudes of up to 2,850 metres (9,350 ft). The climate is cool, with an average temperature of 13 °C (55 °F).

Other artefacts found were made of bones and shells, such as beads, spear points, perforating tools, knives and scrapers. The latter formed the majority of bone tools found, accounting for 55 to 75% of the bone artefacts found.^[18]

Flora, fauna and diet

In all of the layers of the Aguazuque site, remains of fauna have been uncovered. The fauna, part of the cuisine of the inhabitants of Aguazuque, consisted of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish and invertebrates such as gastropods, fresh water oysters and crustaceans.

As at the other sites on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, the main part of the diet of the people was formed by

Within the area of Aguazuque, fifty-nine burial sites have been discovered, consisting of single, double and mass graves. The bodies were buried on either the right or the left side, or lying on their backs. As was common in the later Muisca mummification culture, the bodies were interred with their arms crossed over the thorax and the legs folded onto the abdomen.

One of the collective sites contained the remains of 23 adults (men and women) and children.^[25] It has been theorised that these people fell victim to epidemics, of which in the remains no traces were found.^[26] The burial sites showed evidence of ritual and beliefs in afterlife; the bodies were surrounded by stone tools, such as scrapers and mortars, and some pieces were decorated with red or black colours. Food offerings, such as the meat of the white-tailed deer, guinea pigs and Tayassu pecari accompanied the buried.^[27] An isolated body was adorned with colourful painted pieces of rock.^[28] Similar to what has been found in Tequendama, some of the buried people may have been characterised by rituals of cannibalism.^[29] This is evidenced further by the discovery of mutilated and coloured skeletal remains in Aguazuque.^[30]

Paleopathological analysis has provided information on the people; the average brain volume was around 1,400 cubic centimetres (85 cu in), spread from 1,240 cubic centimetres (76 cu in) to 1,480 cubic centimetres (90 cu in) and the body length around 160 centimetres (63 in).

Burial sites of animals have also been found, where turtles, parrots and foxes were located in isolated small graves.[35]

History of settlement

The evidence for human settlements at Aguazuque consists of circular slightly excavated structures, surrounded by vertically inward inclined bones of deer, or poles of wood. The round areas had a diameter of between 2 metres (6.6 ft) and 4 metres (13 ft) and contained ash and carbon remains on the floor. Using animal and shell pigments, the floors were painted red or covered with sandstone fragments and volcanic ash. The remains of the houses were mostly circular, and near them were many fireplaces.^[36]

The oldest evidence for settlement has been dated to 5025 ± 40 years Before Present (around 3000 BCE). This layer is followed by younger occupation dated at 3850 ± 35 years, 3400 to 2800 BP and the second-youngest zone at 2725 ± 35 years BP. The uppermost layer has been disturbed by modern agricultural activity and provided no dates. The different layers of Aguazuque were similar in character in terms of the tools found, and in the abundance of deer, the main meat for the inhabitants of the Bogotá savanna. The sequence of the layers from bottom to top based on the abundance of guinea pig remains, showed that their presence as domesticated animals varied through time. The domestication of guinea pigs is also evidenced in nearby Tequendama.

The percentage of hunted deer was highest in the uppermost layer where the caiman bones have also been found, suggesting a time of greater interaction with the lower altitude tropical zones of the Andes. The early evidence for agriculture has been found in the middle section of the sequence, as has been discovered in Zipacón where the agricultural activity has been dated at 3270 years BP.^[37] Only in the uppermost beds, the evidence of ceramics has been found, that could be dated to Early Herrera; around 2800 years BP.^[38]

Named after Aguazuque

Aguazuque is featured as one of the names appearing in the grand-strategy video game Europa Universalis IV in the playable nation of the Muisca.^[39]

See also

• List of Muisca and pre-Muisca sites
• Tequendama, Tibitó, Checua
• El Abra, Piedras del Tunjo, Lake Herrera, Herrera Period

References

Bibliography

• Correal Urrego, Gonzalo. 1990. Aguazuque - evidencias de cazadores, recolectores y plantadores en la altiplanicie de la Cordillera Oriental - 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. 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.