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Colombia, the
country of El Dorado, is renowned for the thousands of
prehispanic objects displayed in the Museo del Oro, not t
mention the hundreds of discoveries unearthed annually by
treasure seeking "guaqueros" all over the country. However, more
than an enormous collection of valuable objects, the Gold Museum
is a showcase for the rich patrimony bequeathed by cultures
whose goldwork reached surprising heights. Archaeologist are not
particularly interested in specific pieces on exhibit at the
Museum.
Archaeologist approach the study of the pieces in the Museum
from different perspectives. One approach consists of analyzing
goldworking development, emphasizing the technological expertise
of the metal smiths. The methods employed by indigenous artisans
to work metals - gold and cooper being among the most important
- required a certain knowledge of the minerals malleability and
strength, the temperature at which they could be smelted, and
the precise proportions needed to create specific alloys. In
fact, metallurgy constitutes one of the areas of communal
life where the experience accumulated over generations blends,
to be succeeded by stages of regular technological development.
By analyzing how the pieces in the Museum were made,
archaeologist gain vital information that leads toward
understanding the technological mastery of the ancient
metal smiths.
The gold, copper, and platinum artifacts viewed by visitors at
the museum's showcases are not mere ornaments. They are cultural
products that bear rich symbolic meanings, associated with
ancient religious practices and political hierarchies. The
pieces of metal frequently reproduce a wide range of
iconography, linked to religious specialists or shamans. The
luster, smell, and color of the metals have long been
appreciated for their attributes of facilitating hallucinatory
visions. The diverse zoomorphic figures found in pre-Columbian
gold pieces symbolized a clearly defined group of sacred animals
and, therefore, carried specific cultural messages. |
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In the twentieth
century, the upper Calima Valley, in the western Cordillera of
the Andes, became famous for its rich graves. Wherever recent
colonists have cleared the forests, traces of ancient occupation
have been revealed in the form of rock carvings, house
platforms, shaft tombs, ridged fields in the valley bottom, and
mosaics of little square fields on the slopes.
The gold objects found in the Calima shaft tombs are
masterpieces of hammering and casting. Ear spools, nose
ornaments, masks, lime flasks, and pectorals were made from
sheet metal, with human faces in high. relief all of them
further decorated with repose designs and dangling elements.
Characteristically, these items are large and made of relatively
pure gold. In contrast, the finest cast pieces pins or lime dippers topped with
birds, human figures, and imaginary animals are miniatures. Since all
the material comes from illegal excavations, its precise age is unknown,
though there are hints that it may be some of the oldest goldwork in
Colombia.
In the Popayan region, the usual shaft tombs and house platforms are
reported as well as a few isolated stone statues of nude male figures
with hands folded over the stomach. Metalwork from the tombs consists of
copper and gold disks, and a series of pendants in which human features
are combined with those of eagles or birds of prey.
The main theme of San Agustin sculpture is a human or semi human
personage, sometimes partly transformed into a jaguar with bared fangs,
or else with a jaguar monster crouching over his back and head. With the
aid of hallucinatory snuffs and drug induced visions, present day
shamans communicate with the spirits and can transform themselves into
jaguars and other animals. Although details of costume and weapons are
realistically depicted, the sculpture of San Agustin belongs more to
this spirit world than to the world of everyday life. Surprisingly
little gold has come from San Agustin, though the site has produced
evidence of metalworking in about the first century A.D.
The finest underground tombs of
Tierradentro consist of a spiral stairway leading to a roughly
circular, subterranean chamber with niches round the sides, and
a roof supported by columns of natural rock. Walls and roofs
were sometimes painted in black, white, red, and yellow with
geometric designs, stylized human faces, and lizard like
creatures. |
