  Location within Colombia | |
| Location | Soacha,Cundinamarca |
|---|---|
| Region | Altiplano Cundiboyacense,Colombia |
| Coordinates | 4°32′06.42″N74°16′32.47″W / 4.5351167°N 74.2756861°W /4.5351167; -74.2756861 |
| Altitude | 2,570 m (8,432 ft) |
| Type | Cave, rock shelter |
| Part of | Pre-Muisca sites |
| History | |
| Abandoned | Colonial period (>1537) |
| Periods | Prehistory-Herrera-Muisca |
| Cultures | Herrera-Muisca |
| Site notes | |
| Archaeologists | Hammen,Correal[1] |
| Public access | Yes |
Tequendama is apreceramic andceramicarchaeological site located southeast ofSoacha,Cundinamarca,Colombia, a couple of kilometers east ofTequendama Falls. It consists of multiple evidences of latePleistocene to middleHolocene population of theBogotá savanna, the high plateau in the Colombian Andes. Tequendama was inhabited from around 11,000 years BP, and continuing into the prehistorical,Herrera andMuisca periods, making it the oldest site of Colombia, together withEl Abra, located north ofZipaquirá.[2][3] Younger evidences also from the Herrera Period have been found close to the site of Tequendama in Soacha, at the construction site of a new electrical plant. They are dated at around 900 BCE to 900 AD.[4][5]
The most important researchers who since 1969 contributed on the knowledge about Tequendama wereDutchgeologist andpalynologistThomas van der Hammen andarchaeologist andanthropologistGonzalo Correal Urrego.[1]
The nameTequendama means in theMuysccubun: "he who precipitates downward".[6]
During the time before theSpanish conquest of the Muisca, the central highlands of the ColombianAndes (Altiplano Cundiboyacense) were populated first byprehistoricalindigenous groups, then by people from theHerrera Period, and finally by theMuisca.
Various sites of ancient population have been uncovered during the second half of the 20th and early 21st century, such asTibitó,Aguazuque,Checua, El Abra and Tequendama.
The site of Tequendama consists of four cave and overhang locations at close distance to each other, called Tequendama I (~11,000-10,000 years BP), II (9500-8300 BP), III (7000-6000 BP) and IV (2500-450 BP).[2] The cave sites have been inhabited probably because of the access to fresh water; theBogotá River currently flows very close to the site and also the Funza River was nearby.[1]
During the last phase, Tequendama IV, inside the caves and under the overhanging rocks, living constructions were built. At this time it was alreadyceramic; evidence of the use of pottery was found. Therock art of Tequendama dates to this last phase.[2] In an area, dated at around 2000 years BP, signs of domestication of guinea pigs have been found.[2][7]
The sites of Tequendama were probably inhabited by semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes of maximum 15 individuals. Fruits andland snails were among the food of the people, together with deer and rodents. Areas with fire pits have been found, together with hunting tools, as well as evidence of food preparation and consumption. The most dominant knives, used as scraper tools, found in Tequendama II, III and IV, were also the predominant tools of Checua.[8] More to the outside of the overhangs evidence ofanimal skin processing has been discovered. The waste was collected in a ditch outside of the overhangs.[2]
Tequendama I is situated at an altitude of 2,570 metres (8,430 ft) andradiocarbon dating has provided oldest ages between 12,500 and 10,100 yearsBP.[9] Occupation of Tequendama I continued until approximately 5000 years BP.[10] The first inhabitants have been analysed with the help of the tools ofQuaternary geology, as well as usingpollen analysis; the dates of 12,500 to 11,000 years BP have been produced. At that time, thepaleoclimate was less cold and more humid than today.Lake Fúquene was overflowing rapidly on the Bogotá savanna during thisGuantivá interstadial.[9]
During the next phase, ofEl Abra, dated at 11,000 to 9500 years BP, the climate was colder again and the previously retreatingglaciers in theEastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes were advancing. The people who inhabited the high plateau were hunter-gatherers and mainly consumedwhite-tailed deer andbrocket deer (40% of the remains found),[11] and to a lesser extentcotton rats,guinea pigs,cottontail rabbits and other animals such as thenine-banded armadillo,tayra andkinkajous.[12] The bones found were in most cases fragmented which suggests the people were eating thebone marrow and used them as tools and decoration. Different from the Colombian site ofTibitó, in Tequendama no remains ofPleistocene megafauna have been found.[13]
Following the colder phase, as of 10,000 or 9500 years BP, theAndean forests returned and more evidences of rodents and less of deer have been found at Tequendama.[14][15]
The tools, mainly made ofchert, found at Tequendama I are the result of careful elaboration, more so than at El Abra.[13] More than half of the tools found were primitive knives.[12]
From the 6th millennium BCE (8000 years BP) onwards, the rock shelter areas were less populated; the population seems to have shifted to the plains of the Bogotá savanna.[14]
Twenty bone samples analysed at Tequendama were predominantly males (60%). Children (20%) and women (15%) formed a minor fraction of the remains found.[16] More than 95% of the bones were intact.[17] Evidence of funeral practices have been found at Tequendama.[18] The traditional way of burying the bodies was with their heads towards the east.[19]
Tequendama appears in various present-day names. The public parking company, Parqueaderos Tequendama Ltda., founded in 1985, is named after Tequendama.[20]
| Prehistoric-preceramic |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Preceramic-ceramic | ||
