Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Economic Development of a Specialized Coastal Community at Chengue, the Tairona Area, Colombia

University Of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

Under the supervision of Dr. Robert D. Drennan, Alejandro Dever will carry out surface survey and test excavations at the Tairona site of Chengue in the Tairona National Natural and Archaeological Park on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. The earliest villages in the region appeared ca. 300 A.D. Very fast socio-economic growth between 600- 800 A.D.led to the colonization of the Sierra Nevada's (the dominant mountain range in the region) steep slopes in the archaeological equivalent of a flashpoint. Chengue is notable because it was among the first village to be formed with an economy that was most likely based on a specialized mode of production. It is also interesting because there is evidence that it was formed during a very fast developmental period between 600 and 800 A.D. The archaeological remains at Chengue have not been studied in detail, but superficial observations and collection of remains suggest that approximately 100 households were present. The most noticeable remains consist of stone house foundations, water reservoirs and small scale public architecture including small stone fortifications and paved roads. This research project focuses on the individual households within this large archaeological village and attempts to explain why very fast socio-economic changes occured. General anthropological processes such as economic specialization, trade, urbanization and social inequality cannot be understood without documenting how the everyday needs and choices of individual families and their communities contribute to and are affected by such processes. This project examines the community of Chengue from a household perspective, focusing on comparing the patterns of activities performed by individual households throughout the community. This should lead to an understanding of the social mechanisms that were dominant during the formation of this village. This reconstruction seeks to determine if villages such as Chengue were formed by individual families colonizing zones that were less advantageous from an agricultural point of view, in this case to exploit highly localized salt and marine resources. An alternative hypothesis is that Chengue is a the "colony" of a larger chiefdom that sought to control the salted fish production for the purpose of aggrandizing chiefs residing elsewhere. This alternative would suggest that the very fast growth of this society during the 600- 800 period was preceded and caused primarily by institutionalized political systems not individual entrepreneurial families. The project will have several broader impacts.. It will be an essential element in the training of the doctoral candidate. It will also contribute to the enhancement of the level of public understanding of science by collaborating with anthropologists and museologists involved in the construction of a Tairona National Museum. This museum is a Colombian government sponsored enterprise that will commence in late 2004. The project will provide information about the domestic and community life of the Tairona to the museum; talks will also be given to the general public.