Prehistoric man of the Sabana de Bogotá: Data for an ecological prehistory

Abstract

Recent data on the prehistory, stratigraphy, palynology, archeozoology and paleoecology of the high plain of Bogotá (especially from the El Abra and Tequendama rock shelters) are resumed for a first outline of the ecological prehistory of the area. Early man possibly entered in the area already before the beginning of the Late Glacial, but anyhow during the Guantiva Interstadial, when rock shelters in the area were used as temporal hunting camps. During the El Abra Stadial (ca. 11,000–10,000 B.P.) the high plain was near the forest limit and was covered by a sub-páramo scrub vegetation with areas of open grass páramo. The deer Odocoileus was very abundant in that period and formed the principal source of meat for early man; by that time the people had more stable, or at least seasonal, camps in the rock shelters of the area. Their implements, El Abrian as well as the more elaborate Tequendamian stone artifacts, also indicate that they were more or less specialized hunters. At the beginning of the Holocene the area is forested, and from 10,000 B.P. there is a gradual adaptation to the new circumstances. Besides stone, bone is used for the preparation of artifacts and an increasing abundance of spokeshaves indicates the increasing importance of wood-working. Although deer still forms the principal source of meat, the increasing abundance of bones of small rodents and of snails indicates a gradual increases of “gathering” activities. The relatively dry period between 5,000 and 3,000 B.P. corresponds to a decrease of human presence in the area, but shortly after 2,500 B.P. the first signs of agricultural activities and ceramics are found, associated with a somewhat more humid climate.