Quimbaya artifacts refer to a range of primarily ceramic and gold objects surviving from the Quimbaya civilisation, one of many pre-Columbian cultures of Colombia inhabiting the Middle Cauca River valley and southern Antioquian region of modern-day Colombia. The artifacts are believed to have originated during the Classical Quimbaya period 500 BC–600 AD.
Poporos are vessel type containers primarily used to store powdered lime, made from calcined seashells. They were often cast in gold, decorated with human figures and exhibited "great elegance of conception, manufacture, and finish." [1]
The most noteworthy poporos artifact is the Poporo Quimbaya exhibited in the Gold Museum in Bogotá, Colombia. Cast using the lost wax technique in Tumbaga alloy around 300 CE, the 777 gram golden vessel was used as a ceremonial device for consuming lime while chewing coca leaves during religious ceremonies [2]
These Quimbaya ceremonial artifacts include anthropomorphic or (often male) human figure objects, often seated, approximately 10-50cm in height, made as cinerary urns cast in gold, or clay slab ceramics. Several examples can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York collection. The stylised figures were often designed portraying a social class and included as offerings in burials in tombs representing the guardians or companions for the deceased. [3] Representative of a distinctive Quimbaya style they have been described as "serenely smiling human beings in a variety of quiescent poses". [4]
These include a range of phytomorphic and zoomorphic representations. The most common figures bring birds, insects, fish and bats. Measuring approximately 5 to 7.5cm in length, there are over 100 of these relics on display in the Museo del Oro (Gold Museum) in Bogotá, Colombia.
Artifacts include necklace beads, stylised figure pendants, nose and ear and other personal body ornaments. Other larger ornaments were used for household and decorative tomb and funeral elements which have been identified as key elements of Quimbaya cultural traditions. [4]
A range of other important cultural objects including bowls, jars, bottles and other vessels, musical instruments and bells, have been retrieved from archaeological excavations, as well as helmets and other objects of warfare. [1]
In addition to ceremonial figurines and containers, a range of other vessels and ornaments were used as burial offerings. Tomb artifacts also include funeral masks and sarcophagi, suggesting the central importance of burial rituals and particularly the use of gold as a sacred metal to elevate spiritual preparations for the afterlife. [3]
The most notable collection of Quimbaya artifacts is the Quimbaya Treasure, which consists of 433 artifacts originally discovered in 1890 in Quindio, Colombia. [5] The artifacts of the Quimbaya Treasure include poporos and other ceremonial vessels, containers, figures, crowns, pendants, necklace beads and pins, bells, musical instruments, nose and ear ornaments.
A large part of the original collection was purchased from grave looters in 1891 by then President of the Republic, Carlos Holguín as a gift to Queen Governor of Spain, María Cristina de Habsburgo. [5] These 122 artifacts, mainly gold and funeral, were eventually displayed at the Museo de América in Madrid, Spain where they reside. They are yet to be returned to Colombia despite a judgment issued on 19 October 2017 by the Colombian Constitutional Court ordering the restitution of the objects of the Quimbaya people under international laws and treaties concerning the cultural property of indigenous peoples. [5]
Gold-works are the predominant material composition and finish type for known Quimbaya artifacts, used extensively across categories, including the range of artistically stylised figure representations of birds, fish, mammals and reptiles of the region. Gold-work features in poporos and cinerary urns in the shape of high ranking social figures. [1] [3] [4]
A large amount of the Quimbaya Treasure consists of gold-work decorative personal items such as golden nose rings, necklaces, ear spacers, bracelets and pendants. These items are indicative of the collection’s origins, being a large funerary deposit that was later looted.
Much of the Quimbaya artifacts were created from a combination of pure gold, but also the gold-copper alloy, Tumbaga. This alloy gave the gold-works a reddish hue within the final product and allowed further malleability post the casting process. Much of the gold and Tumbaga works of the Quimbaya are believed to have been cast with the lost wax technique, a form of casting that has been found throughout ancient civilisations as early as 4000 BCE. [2] [6]
The majority of recovered Quimbaya ceramic artifacts consist of decorated jars and vessels with anthropomorphic features. Additionally there were many ceramic figures portraying particular social classes or individuals.
Numerous ceramic spindle whorls have also been found amongst the Quimbaya treasure, alluding to the large importance of textile production within the culture so much so it is buried alongside individuals within funerary customs.
Significant regional artifact types exist from across comparable pre-Columbian cultures. These demonstrate significant artisan diversity in typology of mediums and materials. [7]
The Quimbaya goldsmiths, pottery and ceramic craftspeople were contemporary to rich and distinctive artisan traditions present in neighbouring cultures including the Sam Agustin, Tierradentro, Tumaco, Zenú, and Narino cultures. [7]
Even prior to Quimbaya goldsmith prevalence, metal objects played a role in social and class differentiation in the region, signifying the special status of certain individuals and groups in pre-Columbian cultures. [8]
The comprehensive archaeological record of unique cultural elements of Quimbaya culture has potentially been compromised by the high probability of many artifacts being well-crafted copies, or entirely new pieces redistributed to museums and private collections under the guise of scientific authenticity. [7] [8] [9] This has also led to some stereotyping of artifact evidence. Critical observations have been made that the term "Quimbaya" has become disassociated from unique cultural elements through intensive artifact trading history, becoming almost a hyperbolic description of the exotic and mysterious artifacts found across the broader central Colombian region. [2] [7]
The expansive boom in South American artifact trade similarly gave rise to an increase in pseudo artifact production. [10] [11] [12] Many of the original artifacts were chimeras of rearranged or reshaped fragments into further complex and aesthetically provoking designs in hopes to sell better along with the fabrication of entirely new fake artifacts that were created in the modern era to resemble those of the past. [7]
Partially-faked artifacts are a major concern where heavy restoration makes it difficult to identify fakes. Many genuine artifacts are recovered in a poor state of preservation or have missing elements indicating low intrinsic market value. Restoration and additions can bring old pieces back to life and enable them to command higher prices. [13] [14]
Guaquéros (also Huaqueoro) is the term used in Colombia and broader South America for an individual who loots graves or tombs for their profession. [15] This occupation was widespread and accepted within the early 19th century where a legal framework was in order that applied ownership to those who discovered the artifacts. [16] This legal framework was in place up until the early 20th century when new laws enforced state ownership and therefore a protectionist legal system.
The Guaquéros artifact trade was heavily exacerbated by the increase in exotic artifact demand internationally. This created a further spread of misinformation through the mislabeling of artifact origin as a guise to further their elusiveness. [17] Given the scale, complicity and increasing levels of sophistication involved in modern artifact trading, illicit activity is characterised as largely opaque with considerable investment in investigative efforts required to prove authenticity. [18]
Additionally many of the original gold artifacts found were rather smelted into ingots before any analysis, as the raw materials were of more value to the looters than their cultural value. [15] [19] The trade and looting of these artifacts inevitably lead to the loss of many important archaeological and cultural knowledge. [19]
Of the Quimbaya artifacts, a handful of the stylised animal figures have been misidentified as ancient portrayals of aircraft. This collection of artifacts are colloquially referred to under the broad term "Quimbaya Artifacts" or more misleadingly as the "Tolima fighter jets", the latter name stemming from the 2009 television program Ancient Aliens. [20] [21]
The collection included gold-works resembling local Quimbaya animals such as fish, frogs and reptiles, where the so called "jets" could be recognised as a form of bird or fish statue. A reason for the spread of misinformation was due to the Ancient Aliens segment setting out to "prove" the artifacts were rooted in representations of ancient aircraft. [22] The program does many things to further misinformation such as labelling the objects as Tolima "jets" despite the fact that they were similar to local fish, possibly the sucker-nosed catfish. [22] [23]
There has been scientific analysis of pre-Hispanic artifacts, especially of gold-works, [24] [25] on a compositional level, including the physical and radiocarbon examination of materials, techniques and the use of colour, to provide dating and potential geographical context. [2] Archaeometric methods, including spectrophotometry and spectroscopy on metallurgical variations in composition, have also been used to establish information on origin. [24] [25] It is important to note that cultural specificity is possible given that "different goldsmith cultures inhabited the Columbian territories" and that each of these utilised "different finishes and colours on their surfaces, under the techniques and alloys used.". [25]
Given the importance of physical condition and the impacts of material damage and weathering to scientific analysis, the preservation, storage and restoration process for Quimbaya artifacts impacts how these materials are interpreted in modern times. [25] Precise dating and geographical context are key indicators for identifying cultural, social and religious practices that may indicate traditional or ceremonial purposes.
An out-of-place artifact is an artifact of historical, archaeological, or paleontological interest to someone that is claimed to have been found in an unusual context, which someone claims to challenge conventional historical chronology by its presence in that context. Some people might think that those artifacts are too advanced for the technology known to have existed at the time, or that human presence existed at a time before humans are known to have existed. Other people might hypothesize about a contact between different cultures that is hard to account for with conventional historical understanding.
Altun Ha is the name given to the ruins of an ancient Maya city in Belize, located in the Belize District about 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Belize City and about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) west of the shore of the Caribbean Sea. The site covers an area of about 8 square kilometres (3.1 sq mi).
The Museum of Gold is an archaeology museum located in Bogotá, Colombia. It is one of the most visited touristic highlights in the country. The museum receives around 500,000 tourists per year.
Tumbaga is the name given by Spanish Conquistadors for a non-specific alloy of gold and copper, and metals composed of these elements. Pieces made of tumbaga were widely found in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica in North America and South America.
The Paracas culture was an Andean society existing between approximately 800 BCE and 100 BCE, with an extensive knowledge of irrigation and water management and that made significant contributions in the textile arts. It was located in what today is the Ica Region of Peru. Most information about the lives of the Paracas people comes from excavations at the large seaside Paracas site on the Paracas Peninsula, first formally investigated in the 1920s by Peruvian archaeologist Julio Tello.
Guanín is an alloy of copper, gold and silver, similar to red gold, used in pre-Columbian central America. The name guanín is taken from the language of the Taíno people, who prized it for its reddish color, brilliant shine, and unique smell, and associated it with both worldly and supernatural power. It was also known as taguagua, and in South America as tumbaga. The Spanish referred to it as "low gold", distinguishing it from items made with a higher purity of gold.
The emergence of metallurgy in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica occurred relatively late in the region's history, with distinctive works of metal apparent in West Mexico by roughly 800 CE, and perhaps as early as 600 CE. Metallurgical techniques likely diffused northward from regions in Central or South America via maritime trade routes; recipients of these metallurgical technologies apparently exploited a wide range of material, including alloys of copper-silver, copper-arsenic, copper-tin and copper-arsenic-tin.
Repatriation is the return of the cultural property, often referring to ancient or looted art, to their country of origin or former owners.
Malagana, also known as the Malagana Treasure is an archaeological site of Colombia named after a sugarcane estate where it was accidentally discovered in 1992. During the few days after its discovery, the place was subject to a large scale looting with a rough estimate of 4 tons of pre-Columbian artifacts illegally removed from the burial mounds. A rescue archaeological mission was sent by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (ICANH), led by archaeologist Marianne Cardale de Schrimpff. Archaeological excavations at the site established a previously unknown cultural complex, designated as Malagana-Sonsoid, that dates between 300 BC to 300 AD.
Quimbaya Museum is a museum located in Armenia, Colombia designed by Colombian Architect Rogelio Salmona. It displays a large collection of pre-Columbian artcrafts: about 390 gold objects, 104 pieces of pottery, 22 stone sculptures, carved woods, and other objects, mainly from the pre-Columbian Quimbaya civilization, Embera and some other amerindian tribes. Some of the most important pieces are the gold Poporos and the zoomorphic vases.
A Poporo is a device used by indigenous cultures in present and pre-Columbian South America for storage of small amounts of lime produced from burnt and crushed sea-shells. It consists of two pieces: the receptacle and the lid, which includes a pin that is used to carry the lime to the mouth while a person is chewing coca leaves. Since the chewing of coca is sacred for the indigenous people, the poporos are also believed to have mystical powers and social status.
The Larco Museum is a privately owned museum of pre-Columbian art, located in the Pueblo Libre District of Lima, Peru. The museum is housed in an 18th-century vice-royal building. It showcases chronological galleries that provide a thorough overview of 5,000 years of Peruvian pre-Columbian history. It is well known for its gallery of pre-Columbian erotic pottery.
The Quimbaya (/kɪmbaɪa/) were a small, ancient indigenous group in present-day Colombia noted for their gold work characterized by technical accuracy and detailed designs. The majority of the gold work is made in tumbaga alloy, with 30% copper, which colours the pieces.
The antiquities trade is the exchange of antiquities and archaeological artifacts from around the world. This trade may be illicit or completely legal. The legal antiquities trade abides by national regulations, allowing for extraction of artifacts for scientific study whilst maintaining archaeological and anthropological context. The illicit antiquities trade involves non-scientific extraction that ignores the archaeological and anthropological context from the artifacts.
The Western Mexico shaft tomb tradition refers to a set of interlocked cultural traits found in the western Mexican states of Jalisco, Nayarit, and, to a lesser extent, Colima to its south, roughly dating to the period between 300 BCE and 400 CE, although there is not wide agreement on this end date. Nearly all of the artifacts associated with this shaft tomb tradition have been discovered by looters and are without provenance, making dating problematic.
Metallurgy in pre-Columbian America is the extraction, purification and alloying of metals and metal crafting by Indigenous peoples of the Americas prior to European contact in the late 15th century. Indigenous Americans had been using native metals from ancient times, with recent finds of gold artifacts in the Andean region dated to 2155–1936 BC, and North American copper finds being dated to approximately 5000 BC. The metal would have been found in nature without the need for smelting, and shaped into the desired form using hot and cold hammering without chemical alteration or alloying. To date "no one has found evidence that points to the use of melting, smelting and casting in prehistoric eastern North America."
Chupícuaro is an important prehispanic archeological site from the late preclassical or formative period. The culture that takes its name from the site dates to 400 BC to 200 AD, or alternatively 500 BC to 300 AD., although some academics suggest an origin as early as 800 BC.
The Muisca raft, sometimes referred to as the Golden Raft of El Dorado, is a pre-Columbian votive piece created by the Muisca, an indigenous people of Colombia in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The piece probably refers to the gold offering ceremony described in the legend of El Dorado, which occasionally took place at Lake Guatavita. In this ritual, the new chief (zipa), who was aboard a raft and covered with gold dust, tossed gold objects into the lake as offerings to the gods, before immersing himself into the lake. The figure was created between 1295 and 1410 AD by lost-wax casting in an alloy of gold with silver and copper. The raft was part of an offering that was placed in a cave in the municipality of Pasca. Since its discovery in 1969, the Muisca raft has become a national emblem for Colombia and has been depicted on postage stamps. The piece is exhibited at the Gold Museum in Bogotá.
The pre-Columbian cultures of Colombia refers to the ancient cultures and civilizations of Colombia.