San Agustin culture

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The San Agustín culture , named after the site of San Agustín in southern Colombia , existed from the 33rd century BC. Chr. To the 16th century . In the 7th century BC Chr. The culture underwent significant development as in agriculture , ceramics , goldsmith's art and sculpture can be read. The monumental stone sculptures with anthropomorphic depictions of gods and demons found in the vicinity of the type locality date mainly from the classical period and were created in the period 200 BC. Chr. To 700 n. Chr.

Geographical location

Distribution of pre-Columbian cultures in south-west Colombia; the area of ​​the San Agustín culture is identified by number 4.

The distribution area of ​​the San Agustín culture is in the South Colombian Department del Huila . Located on the upper reaches of the Río Magdalena in the humid mountainous region of the Andes , it forms part of the Colombian massif with altitudes over 1,400 meters. In addition to the type locality , sites are Mesitas , Lavapatas , Ullumbe , Alto de los Ídolos , Alto de las Piedras , Quinchana , El Tablón , La Chaquira , La Parada , Quebradillas , Lavaderos and others. Comparable stone sculptures can also be found in Tierradentro and Moscopán , even on the eastern roof of the Andes to the Amazon basin near Santa Rosa del Caquetá . However, the core area is essentially limited to the area of ​​the municipalities of San Agustín, San José de Isnos and Salado Blanco .

Its central location is likely to have made the culture an important trading center in its time , whose trade routes led deep into the Amazon region, to the heights of today's Popayán and as far as the Pacific coast .

discovery

The famous archaeological zone of San Agustín was described for the first time 250 years ago in the middle of the 18th century and was rediscovered, so to speak, in 1857 by the Italian Agostino Codazzi , who saw over twenty sculptures at the time . Scientific excavations and investigations were only carried out from 1914 , for example by Konrad Theodor Preuss 1931, Pérez de Barradas 1943, Duque 1964, Duque and Cubillos 1979 to 1993, Llanos Vargas 1995 and others.

Timeframe

Duque and Cubillos (1979) divided the San Agustín culture into four phases (from young to old):

  • Recent phase - 800 to 1550 AD - construction of house and field terraces, drainage ditches and paths. Cultivation of maize and another strong increase in population. From 900 AD, no more tombs were built. General decline of culture from 1000 AD
  • Phase of regional classical music - 200 BC BC to AD 800 - the heyday of religiously motivated sculpture, which ends around AD 700. From 1 BC Rapid increase in population.
  • Formative phase - 1100 to 200 BC BC - simple graves, obsidian and bone jewelry, ceramics . From 1000 BC Beginning of sedentarism and agriculture.
  • Archaic phase - 3300 to 1100 BC Chr.

The reason for the decline of culture and its achievements is obscure. Warlike tribes from the Amazon region may have chased the original inhabitants away, which could explain the disappearance of maize and the emergence of the yuca root .

The evidence that the culture was around 3000 BC. In 1991/1992 Julio César Cubillos produced the radiocarbon age of his samples from the burial mound of Ullumbe 2990 ± 90 years BC. Chr. Resulted. To an even higher age over 3000 BC. In their works from 1993 to 1996, Hurtado and Vargas refer to the area of ​​the Río Sombrerillo and the Río Granadillo.

description

Statue of the archaeological park in San Agustin
Statue of the San Agustin culture

Outstanding features of the San Agustín culture are the monolithic stone and rock sculptures, of which over 400 are now known (including 313 statues).

Statues

There are several types of statues, which appear either in isolation or in small groups:

  • purely geometric figures
  • anthropomorphic figures
  • zoomorphic figures and hybrids
  • Temple guardian

The geometric patterns carved out of the andesite rock may have had a symbolic or magical meaning. The anthropomorphic sculptures that are so characteristic of the San Agustín culture mostly have a human head with predatory fangs (most likely from a jaguar or puma ). The artistic expression is mainly limited to these characteristics, the rest of the body is neglected and mostly represents nothing more than a roughly hewn block. Often these mythical beings, which may be deities, are represented by symbols such as snake, knife and head trophy accompanied. The temple guards are more naturalistically crafted monoliths that stood at the entrance to megalithic temples and guarded them.

The statues were created with fairly simple stone tools. Were used scraper and chisel-like devices from basalt , obsidian splinters were as graver used and needle.

Megalithic temples

Dolmen-like complex, which is flanked by two temple guards with a mounted alter ego and which houses a jaguar deity , San Agustín.

The megalithic temples were built with large, flat stones that stood upright side by side. The statues of the gods were housed in the temples. The temple of the Mother of God , for example, consisted of a corridor, a room for the deity and an adjoining room. Some of the stones found still show decorative motifs. It is believed that the temple was covered by a mound of earth, with the exception of the entrance.

Natural sanctuary

The source of Lavapatas

The sacred area of ​​Lavapatas or the source of Lavapatas was a cult sanctuary for the worship of water . It is one of the most interesting legacies of the San Agustín culture. It consists of existing volcanic rock, over the slope of which the water flows - a tender homage to the vitality of the element water along a river. Holes and basins were carved out of the rock for ceremonial ablutions.

Tombs

The famous tombs all date from the phase of regional classicism , with the oldest dating back to around 1 BC. Go back. The dead of the upper class were buried in shaft graves - similar to those of Tierradentro - and from the 7th century AD in ceremonial mounds. The latter were piled up out of the earth and had a diameter of up to 40 meters at a height of 4 meters. They contained burial chambers made from large blocks of stone and stone slabs . In stone chambers under the hills one found colorfully painted andesite sculptures or wooden or monolithic sarcophagi . Skeletal finds were very rare because of the acidity of the soil, but it appears that mostly only one person was buried. The grave goods were mostly monochrome ceramics and only very rarely gold jewelry . The few gold finds, almost all of which were made in graves, nevertheless made it possible to define a regional style.

Way of life and meaning

Despite the numerous finds, very little is known about the way of life of the people of the San Agustín culture. Their settlement area, located on the flanks of the Central Cordillera, with fertile soils and abundant rainfall, was at an altitude of 1400 to 2000 meters. They probably lived in thatched mud huts with a floor area of ​​around 20 square meters, the circular diameter of which could often be seen on the ground. Their number suggests a fairly high population during the phase of regional classicism, and the estimated population density of 22 to 44 inhabitants / square kilometer was even higher than today's level. The way of settlement was quite inconsistent, individual farmsteads alternated with groupings of huts and intervening cultivated land and untouched nature. Some settlement concentrations could reach up to 5000 inhabitants within a radius of 10 to 15 kilometers.

Food was ensured through the cultivation of corn, hunting and the gathering of fruits and crops.

The site of San Agustín is likely to have been a huge necropolis , to which several South American ethnic groups - recognizable by their very different artefacts and clothing - transferred their deceased tribal princes from different parts of the country and buried them there.

The meaning of the statues has not been fully clarified, but it is undoubtedly the representation of supernatural beings. Ethnographic studies of indigenous rites in numerous tribes of northern South America suggest, however , human-animal transformations reminiscent of shamanism . The buried persons are therefore likely to have been necromancers , priests or tribal chiefs whose social position was supported by supernatural forces.

See also: Rio Magdalena .

literature

  • Robert LW Foltyn, The Megalithic Culture of San Agustin, on the pre-Columbian iconography of Upper Magdalena; Diploma thesis in the field of art history at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Santafé de Bogotá, 1995
  • Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerado - San Agustin-A culture of Columbia. London 1972

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Duque Gómez, L. and Cubillos, JC: Arqueologia de San Agustin - Alto de Lavapatas . tape 36 , 1988, pp. 1-1196 .
  2. ↑ Santa Gertrudis, FJ de: Maravillas de la naturaleza . Biblioteca Banco Popular, Bogotá 1970.
  3. ^ Luis Duque Gómez and Julio C. Cubillos: Arqueologia de San Agustín. Exploraciones arqueológicas realizadas en el Alto de las Piedras (1975-1976) . Ed .: Fundación de investigaciones Arqueológicas Nacionales. Santa Fe de Bogotá 1993.
  4. ↑ Julio Cesar Cubillos: Excavación y del Reconstrucción Monticulo artificial del sitio de Ullumbe . In: Boletín de Arqueología . año 6. núm. 1. Bogotá 1991.
  5. ^ Duque Gómez, Luis: Gold museum Colombia . Ed .: Banco de la República. Editions Delroisse, Bogotá 1982.
  6. ↑ Drennan, RD: Chiefdoms of southwestern Colombia . In: The Handbook of South American Archeology . 2006, p. 381-403 .

Web links

Commons : San Agustín (culture)  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).