ThePuerto Hormiga archaeological site is located in theBolivar department,Colombia, in the lowerMagdalena basin near theCaribbean coast. It dates to 4000-3100 BC. It is located in theArjona municipality, 40 kilometres (25 mi) south east ofCartagena de Indias.

Ashell ring of the LateArchaic period has been described at Puerto Hormiga. The Puerto Hormiga ring, found in a marsh, is composed primarily ofclam shells. It has an outside diameter of 280 feet (85 m), a height of about 4 feet (1.2 m), and the base of the ring mound is 52 feet (16 m) to 75 feet (23 m) wide. It has a clear interior plaza.^[1]Sherds of fiber-tempered and sand-tempered pottery, as well as stone tools, were found associated with the shell ring. The earliest have been dated to 3794 BC. The fiber-tempered pottery is "crude", formed from a single lump of clay. Sand-tempered coiled ceramics have also been found at Puerto Hormiga.^[2][3][4][5]

The site provides evidence of a developing semi-sedentaryagricultural society, whose members also hunted and gatheredshellfish. Middens of shells were found there. Other findings, such as potsherds and abundantlithic material, suggest that thenomadic peoples were beginning to complement their activities with small-scalehorticulture andagriculture.

• Clark, John E. and Dennis Gosser (1995). "Reinventing Mesoamerica's First Pottery". In William K. Barnett and John W. Hoopes (ed.).The Emergence of Pottery: Technology and Innovation in Ancient Societies(PDF). Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 209–219.ISBN 978-1-56098-516-7. Retrieved22 November 2011.
• Hemmings, E. Thomas (1970)."Emergence of Formative Life on the Atlantic Coast of the Southeast".Research Manuscript Series, Book 6. University of South Carolina. Retrieved19 November 2011.
• Ember, Melvin;Peregrine, Peter Neal, eds. (2001)."Encyclopedia of Prehistory: Volume 5: Middle America".Encyclopedia of Prehistory. Vol. 5 : Middle America. Springer. p. 290.ISBN 0-306-46259-1.
• Walthall, John A. (1980).Prehistoric Indians of the Southeast: Archaeology of Alabama and the Middle South. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press. pp. 81–83.ISBN 0-8173-0552-1.

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