Arqueología regional en el valle de Tena: un estudio sobre la microverticalidad muisca

Abstract

Based on ethnohistorical accounts, it has been suggested that vertical or microvertical agriculture was part of the finance system of some Muisca chiefdoms which inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyacence during the sixtieth century. Perhaps the best documented case is the Valle de Tena region, which supposedly, provided food for Bogotá´s chiefdom. An archaeological systematic survey was carried out in the region to study the settlement patterns and their possible relation to vertical or microvertical agriculture. The result of this study contradicts the expectations of the models of vertical and microvertical settlement. Consequently, it can be concluded that Bogotá´s chiefdom was not financed by agricultural products from the Tena region.

Keywords

• Archaeology
• political economy (Thesaurus); Muisca chiefdoms
• vertical agriculture