RITA ANAND explores how a megacity civilisation of Central American Indians Had survived on natural resource management, and what needs to be done to Salvage the system
Then and now
"IF EVER there were to be a paradise in this land of Indians, this"
Frary Pedro Simon, a 16th century chronicler, had
1i At a dizzying 5,775 metres (in) above sea level, the
fd stiountains in Sierra Nevada, Colombia, make up the
rs highest coastline range. just 300 years ago, some
" Tayrano Indians lived off these mountains in citystates
Isorrounded by lush crop-fields. Today, a mere 2,000 settles
bottle erosion, meagre supplies of water and poor soil
6m To eke out a living. Their methods of cultivation are
it proc with the environment. Most of them, naturally,
have migrated and the native Indians have been completely
marginalized.
"The greatest joy for the eyes was the abundance of com,
mam potatoes, cassava, guava trees..." wrote Simon. His
big statement is backed by 15th century Spanish chroniclers
.soch as Fernandez de Ovidedo and CasteUenos, but historians
na bad dismissed these as travellers' tales. Castellenos'
on"verse was hard to fathom. There aren't any contemporary
ir toope which would help locate these city-states.
But in 1975, history came alive. Alvaro Soto-Holguin, a
onher finarn the Colombian Institute of Anthropology,
dabonat the destruction of an archaeological site by treasure
bmoneri6 rushed to investigate. The site was located at the
orbaritaca river, near the northern slope of the Massif.
tug in their spades and dug out the megacity of
oday, excavations and
poebas we still going on at 180 sites and have involved
Mm and anthropologists, alongside historians and
Archeologists.
The Massif is shaped like a 3-faced pyramid. Climate, rainfall
vary at different altitudes. Up to a height of
onst veIpmation thrives, giving way above that to dry
operforests At 1,000 m, there are the damp tropical
d1b m annual rainfall of 2-4,000 mm. Rivers and
not through deep, narrow ravines. At 3,000 in the
onon, bmw to damp rainforests, has an average rain
= sum Higher still, at 4,700 in, come the snowy
dlVwft vegetation.
Vegetation surveys and soil profiles, pbysico-cheinical tests,
ono6ogs and geological data were examined.
Delayering, a technique involving horizontal excavation, so
that the entire landscape can be visualised at a glance, was carried out.
The sites examined were from sea level, up to 1,800 in.
Theywerelocated near the Upper and Lower Buritaca river on
the northern slope of the Massif, and the Nulicuandecue river
near the southern slope. Chronologically there was little
difference between the cultural remnants, and this implied
concurrent development. "We conclude that the people who
settled here had developed this technology elsewhere,"
explains Sotto.
Six sites examined near the lowlands contained sea species,
resources from mangroves and the cultivation of cassava. The
site of Tigres, at an altitude of 1,440 in, and Alto de Miro, at
1,530 in, yielded diverse crops and soils. An ancient road
joined all these sites to the megacity of Ciudad Perdida.
That megacity rests on a ridge and extends to some hillsides and plateaus. On the west, the Buritaca river cascades
down into a torrential waterfall. The site covers an area of
20 hectares (ha), but the remnants are scattered over an area of
150 ha. Protruding terraces, toppled walls, lithic and metal
tools lie all around. Stone was used extensively to build roads,
pillars and terraces, and a quarry was also unearthed.
Since the terrain was extremely uneven, the ancient
builders had to carve out horizontal spaces for building
homes. They did this by building terraces of various shapes
and sizes, from 20 in to 1,600 in. Right from the highest
point of the city, stepped terraces blended into the
landscape following the line of the mountain slope along a
1,280-metre stretch.
Begin walking from the city's highest point, with the
Buritaca river flowing on the west. Ciudad Perdida's main
road begins from here and runs parallel to these terraces.
Sometimes this lifeline turns into a stepped path leading
into homes and courtyards. As it meanders downwards, the
main road branches off into smaller paths, which lead into the
city centre situated on the ridge. This main road finally
descends to the lowest level of the settlement, where there is a
slate@floor slab. One hundred metres from this point the road
emerges once again and continues downward along an ornate
stone stairway.
Look down 700 in below: the Buritaca river rushes past.
Continue walking and end up at the site of Alto De Miro. All
the sites were linked to Ciudad Perdida's main road, making
transport and communication much easier.
Retention walls once
consolidated the terraces
and reinforced the roads and
helped regulate the course
of rainfall. Land cuts and
landfills were sometimes
over 6 in high and needed a
wall to lean on. These walls
once rose to a height of 30 in
and were topped with rectangular slabs to protect
them from rain. Wall foundations were made of rock
laid on firm ground, set in
place, surprisingly, without
any mortar.
"Aromatic logs were kept perpetually burning in the huts of the chiefs and in other huts,where they kept their jewels, feathers and blankets," writes Simon. Indians lived in circular WWI,
huts, called buhios, built with wooden posts,
mud walls and cone shaped thatch or palmleafed roofs. Buhios were built on ringhaped foundations. These foundations were raised 30
to 80 cm from the floor level and covered with
stone slabs. On the outer side of these ring foundations, a drainage or ditch collected rainwater
and directed it towards the stepway or road. This
in turn helped rainwater flow down the slope, thus avoiding
erosion.
Overall population density was high in the entire area but
population estimates in each Tayrona site was low. Available
land and resources of those times could have sustained many
more people. But the Tayrano Indians did not want to overburden their urban areas. "Therefore, Ciudad Perdida was
probably a settlement model designed for a certain number of
inhabitants. Once population spilled over this limit, another
settlement was built to accommodate them," says
This also explains the proliferation of sites.
Each settlement specialised in a particular crop,
on sod conditions. Coastline populations with easy
the sea obtained salt and protein from it. People at
tudes cultivated cotton and cassava, and those at In
tudes grew corn, beans and harvested fruit trees.
Tayranos could maintain a high population density
their sustained management of natural resources.
"Fifteen chiefs are great lords, subject to the mandates of the
Naoma and each with his own people under his rule,"
Castellanos. In all the city states there was a clear divisiom
labour. For instance, in Alto de Mim certain areas are iq
dated with artefacts related to religious ceremonies, indicat
that the people associated with it lived here. Some city
were more important than others. This is apparent
from an examination of the different types of architel
and construction.
Archaeologists have not concluded when the civilisation
died out. The Tayranos were conquered by the Spanish
the 16th century, but this conflict went on for about
100 years. During this period, the population of the India
dwindled. Their economics
base was ruined when the
the roads and stepped path
were destroyed, because this
made communication
between mutually dependent settlements extremely
difficult. Diseases from the Old World
devastated them. The Indians who surviveded
trauma vanished,the northern slope, conquered at the price of so
mean bloodshed was never colonised.
After the Spanish conquest, the patt
settlement restricted the Indians to theirl
lands. Previously, their lands had given
access to the sea, along with a constant
fish and salt. But the intrusion of setth
catalysed their migration to higher alting
and to a reliance on hunting animals
is too low to meet the demands of even a
population.
The result: greater pressure on landl
higher altitudes, the climate is unsuited to the cultivation
corn. Instead of 2 crops a year, only I is possible. "If the
groups are to survive today, they must be given back the
lands and their access to the sea," points out Hog
Ongoing research on cultivation will reveal the total CUM
capacity of the area. Hopefully, the dispossessed India
be finally restored their ancestral land. And in the
they will have taught the world a thing or two about old
resource management.
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