Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Lords of the Snowy Ranges: Urbanism and Landscape Transformation in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia 1000 to 1600 AD

University Of Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

Supervised by Dr. Alan Kolata, Santiago Giraldo will compare two Tairona sites, Pueblito and Ciudad Perdida, in order to determine the existence of shared or dissimilar patterns of construction, layout, and environmental impact on the surrounding landscape as these towns grew and expanded. Pueblito and Ciudad Perdida are located in Colombia's northern coast within the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, a coastal mountain range noted for its biodiversity and unique fauna and flora. Ciudad Perdida is a national archaeological park located within the confines of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Park, and Pueblito is located within Tairona National Park. Both sites flourished as important political, ritual, and economic centers from approximately 1000 A:D until 1600 A.D. when the Spanish governor of the province of Santa Marta crushed Tairona resistance to colonization. During this time, the Tairona polities built extensive flagstone paved road networks, irrigation and water channeling systems, terraced agricultural fields, and large (over 1.2 square mile) stone masonry towns in a mountainous area comprising some 1800 square miles. Basic research on the Tairona is important because it provides much needed information on the social and political organization of these poorly known societies. By addressing questions of urban history, settlement layout, and environmental impact, this project addresses basic issues regarding the relationship between politics, settlement growth and organization, and its broader environmental effects in ancient societies. To achieve this, the project seeks to determine whether a construction pattern evidencing a specific design exists, or, on the other hand, if these towns grew slowly and by accretion, following no determinate plan. Research will also concentrate on sorting out the sequence and timing of construction events at both sites related to what seem to be "core" or administrative areas and residential sectors so that internal variation may also be determined. That is, if planning and construction were concentrated on certain sectors and not others at specific moments in time. Since settlement growth in both sites must have been accompanied by tropical forest clearing, this study will also gauge the extent to which the surrounding areas were modified to accommodate new structures and ostensibly larger populations. Ancient vegetation patterns will be reconstructed through the combined use of fossil pollen cores taken from areas within and outside these settlements, and the comparison of these data to current vegetation patterns evidenced in available satellite imagery. Moving beyond specific research questions relevant to social scientists, this project will produce new and relevant information regarding the environmental history of these conservation areas and the long lasting effects of ancient human-environment dynamics which will be of interest to scientists in other fields. Since excavations will proceed in areas open to the public at both sites, the project will also enhance awareness of scientific research concerning ancient societies, and efforts by national and international institutions. A fundamental component of this project is extensive public outreach within both national parks (guides, visitors, personnel, scientific staff) and in educational institutions in the city of Santa Marta. In the US, ongoing efforts include extensive collaboration with Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago) curators and staff in the design of a Tairona exhibit due to open in 2006 for which data collected by this project will be used. A project website hosted by the Colombian Institute for Anthropology and History-ICANH will provide a quick and efficient way of making public project results and information, while publication in Colombian and international refereed journals will ensure that the scientific community has access to these results.