Early Herrera. The first egalitarian tribal society of the cundiboyacense altiplano, Colombia

Abstract

In this article, the categories of increasing complexity (CC) and threshold are used for the study of the ancient history of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, between the years 20,000 B.C. and 1550 AD, where we can differentiate four different levels of CC: 1) hunter-gatherers; 2) early hunter-food producers; 3) agro-pottery societies, and 4) hierarchical cacical-type societies. The complexity of the Early Herrera egalitarian tribal society was determined, based on the following variables: 1) settlement patterns, 2) primary economic activities, 3) secondary craft-type activities, 4) architectural structures in the villages, 5) The exchange of raw materials and manufactured goods and, 6) funeral customs.