Tairona

The Tairona were a pre-Columbian people with a highly developed culture on the territory of the modern provinces of La Guajira and Magdalena in the Republic of Colombia.

Early phase culture

The origin of the Tairona and the early stages of their culture are lack of written records largely in the dark. The Tairona have - like the other South American cultures also - does not develop its own font. Written records are just by the Spaniards before. One of the first reports on the Tairona is included in the itinerary De Orbe Novo of the humanist, diplomat and historian Pedro Martyr d' Anghiera ( 1457-1526 ).

By about 800 AD, the people lived in small, scattered villages in the coastal region. Near the coastal town Nahuange in Colombia a grave mound with gold objects from the 6th or 7th century was discovered in 1922 AD. Recent dating of archaeological sites date back to the 2nd century BC.

Urban Culture

From the 9th century to the Tairona moved for unknown reasons more and more in the inaccessible areas of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta back and built, starting about 1000 AD, roughly 200 Terrace cities at altitudes of 900 to 1200 meters.

The Tairona were not a nation in the modern sense, but a network of scattered cities. The cities were opened up with an elaborate system of paved roads, bridges, gangways and stairways and interconnected. Each in itself independent city to the accumulated each smaller settlements, was under a warlord. The strictly hierarchical society was dominated by a powerful priestly caste.

For the settlements system, the steep terrain was leveled and was built elaborate set of stone terraces. At these elevated platforms, raised palm leaf roofed round houses made ​​of wood for large families. The buildings are made from perishable materials are no longer available, today announced the characteristic circular house platforms are still visible. From the position of archaeological finds, one can conclude that the houses were separated into sections for men and women. In the women's field, rather on the edge of the house, there were the fireplaces and home appliances: cooking pots, jars and grinding stones. In the men's field stone axes, ceremonial objects and weights for fishing nets came to light. In addition to the houses, with terraces had about 6-7 m in diameter, there were much larger ceremony houses with several entrances, stairs, columns and stone tables and benches. Among the excavated ceremonial objects to stone scepter and axes, fork rods and so-called " Placas Sonajeras " were (German: rattling panes ), strange propeller-shaped pendant made of polished stone, the use of which is unknown.

At each settlement were consuming terraced, loaded and drained fields. The drainage was performed via an intricate network of underground canals, lined with stone ditches and reservoirs. They grew mainly maize, beans, cassava, chillies, sweet potatoes and cotton.

Center of urban culture was Ciudad Perdida (German: Lost City ), which at its peak in the 16th century had about 2,500 inhabitants and about 13 acres included. Further, archaeological partially explored the Tairona cities are located near the coast Pueblito in Departamento de Córdoba and Chengue, in today's Parque Nacional Natural Tairona at the Bahía de Chengue.

According to reports the Spaniard different forms of burial were common in the Tairona, both the drying and smoking the corpse and the exposure in caves followed by secondary burial of bones in funeral urns.

Arts and crafts

The Tairona presented sophisticated pottery ago. Characteristic of the Tairona ceramics are incised and highlighted with white color pattern on dark-colored clay. Other famous faces with ornate, about a meter high grave urns.

On an aesthetic and artisanal very high level, the gold work were. Gold was considered a symbol of fertility, whose power acquired from the sun is transferred to the carrier. Unlike other pre-Columbian cultures was gold jewelry - but mostly acted by tumbaga - not only reserved for dignitaries, but could be worn by anyone.

Among the works of art preserved human figures with animal attributes, such as zoomorphic combinations of dwarf human figures and bats are (possibly a priest with headdress and masks representing ) and bird motifs particularly common. A characteristic, regularly occurring graphic pattern on the gold work is the spiral. The masterfully crafted jewelry was made ​​using the lost wax in the lost form, but also hammered, driven and soldered. Especially beautiful gold artifacts of the Tairona are now exhibited in the Museo del Oro in Bogotá and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Spanish conquest

The penetration of the Spaniards in the 16th century continued the war against the Tairona fierce opposition and rejected Christianity. By 1630, however, even the most remote towns were conquered. Immediately thereafter, the systematic, ruthless quest for gold objects and the looting of tombs and settlements began. The Spaniards melted down the artworks found. The few survivors Tairona retreated to still more inaccessible mountainous regions of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Their descendants now form the people of Kogi.