Digital resources in the Social Sciences and Humanities OpenEdition Our platforms OpenEdition Books OpenEdition Journals Hypotheses Calenda Libraries OpenEdition Freemium Follow us

Highland-Lowland interaction in the Northern Andes

Catherine Lara and Felipe Cárdenas-Arroyo

Introduction

The topic of highland-lowland interactions is pivotal for understanding the formation of culture in the Northern Andes, both in time and space. It is a complex topic if one considers the different variables involved: people, ideas, materials, objects, ecosystems, spaces, and organizational systems. The development of theoretical and methodological tools in archaeology has enriched and diversified the proposals that have been set forward around the idea of interactions between peoples and cultures.

With this in mind, we are dividing our main topic into four interconnected sub-topics: Ideology, Products, Routes, and Kinds of Exchange. By studying these we should gain the necessary data for understanding how they affected political and socioeconomic organization in the Andes. 

Sub-Topics

Ideology

Archaeological data indicate the existence of pan-regional phenomena that suggest the circulation of shared ideas among populations, some of them settled in places far away from each other, and during very long chronological periods. The reasons and mechanisms underlying these phenomena and their expansion are still being debated and interpreted in the light of new approaches. Did the symbolic meanings associated with such regional phenomena have local variants? Can we identify common threads archaeologically to help us understand possible fluctuations of meaning?

The influence that Amazonia had in the cosmovision of people from the Pacific Coast and the Sierra is an issue being debated since the twentieth century; for example, the case with studies centering on the iconography of the jaguar and its relationship with the use of hallucinogens is the most noticeable. Was this born in the Amazon, as suggested by the very early dates from Brazil and Colombia? Specifically, Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff suggested for Colombia the existence of an Amazonian center of origin and diffusion of culture towards the Andes, and Lathrap followed the same line of thought for the Central Andes. Both proposals were criticized at the time, although more recent data suggest other a different point of view (se for example Dimitri Karadimas, 2014: “Las alas del tigre: acercamiento iconográfico a una mitología común entre los Andes prehispánicos y la Amazonía contemporánea”. Memorias de las Conferencias Magistrales del 3er Encuentro Internacional de Arqueología Amazónica, 203-223).

Another similar regional phenomenon–perhaps linked to the former–is the ‘cult’ to Spondylus originating in the waters of the Pacific Ocean but present in the Sierra and even in Amazonia. Although we now know more about its role in the economy, the subject of the ‘regional success’ of its symbolic content is still a matter of many debates. 

Products

The diversity and complementarity of ecosystems in the Northern Andes gave rise to complex exchange networks of raw materials and manufactured products, beginning with the early inhabitants of the area. Identifying these products is important for understanding subsistence strategies, for characterizing sociopolitical and techno-economic systems, and also for understanding ideological phenomena. Aside from the iconographic and ethnohistorical information available, archaeometry has contributed significantly to this topic by allowing researchers to locate original sources of materials and understanding with better precision their movement. The range of disciplines involved in this is varied: archaeobotany, archaeozoology, trace element analysis, petrography, isotopic analysis, etc. Two important questions arise about the nature of the products that were exchanged and their routes–in other words, from where and to where they moved:

(1) What arrived at the highlands and middle-mountain slopes of the Andes from the lowlands?

The available data shows the exchange of feathers, pottery, lithic and metal objects, wood (for example carved ‘chonta’ palm wood stools), plants (coca), animals (primates, birds, tapir (the ‘danta’)–some perhaps still alive–fish, and seashells, perhaps considered luxury and decorative items as has been the case for the highlands of Nariño. 

(2) What arrived at the lowlands from the highlands and middle mountain slopes of the Andes? 

Copper hand axes and obsidian found in Amazonia are classic examples of a highland-lowland exchange. The unfavorable environmental conditions for the preservation of these objects set a limitation to the data that could be obtained from perishable materials. However, iconographic information and ethnohistorical data constantly mention the movement of products such as salt, potatoes, corn, and textiles. 

Routes

Highland-lowland exchange and interaction demand studying the routes that were used for the movement of products, people, and ideas. Usually, these routes adapt to natural conditions and landscapes, which explains their use during centuries or even millennia. But locating and dating these roads can be challenging. Landscape archaeology and models of special analysis have contributed valuable tools for this purpose. These routes or ‘roads’ can be river waterways or sea routes, or land routes that follow an east/west direction (tropical forest-high forest niche-highland-Pacific flatlands-coast) and vice versa; and north/south direction. The nature of these routes and their orientation offer first-hand information regarding the ways in which these territories were articulated and what that meant in terms of the sociopolitical organization behind the exchange networks.

Kinds of Exchange

How was exchange organized and who was involved–in other words, was exchange inter-ethnic, intra-ethnic, or both? 

From the point of view of ethnohistory and anthropology, authors such as John Murra, Frank Salomon, Kenneth Hirth, and Colin Renfrew have set forward concepts such as verticality, exchange ports, a network of specialized traders, specialized redistribution centers or settlements, domestic exchange; all of which are not necessarily exclusive of the others, and that have changed with time according to the particulars of each region. An issue that is still a matter of discussion is how to identify these models and concepts in the archaeological record. The presence of workshops can be a telling indicator, although they are not easy to find. For example, can we identify the presence of mindalas archaeologically by observing if certain tombs show traits that are quite distinguishable from other tombs? (this could be the case in the Valle de Atríz, although more research is needed). 

What can exchange tell us about the forms of political organization of the societies involved? What do the new discoveries tell us about the traditional models that link political power with the control of exchange networks? What do they tell us about the distinction between centers of control and the peripheries that supplied the goods? What role did conflicts play within these power relationships? 

Aside from the obvious movement of people and goods in this economic background, we will include another phenomenon: The displacement of populations due to natural or political factors (for example, the mitimaes). Identifying migratory flows is not an easy task-based solely on material culture. Paleogenetics can contribute valuable data in this case.


OpenEdition le sugiere que cite este post de la siguiente manera:
danielabalanzategui (16 de noviembre de 2021). Highland-Lowland interaction in the Northern Andes. Andes Septentrionales: arqueología e historia. Recuperado 15 de abril de 2026 de https://doi.org/10.58079/sdxj


Deja una respuesta

Tu dirección de correo electrónico no será publicada. Los campos obligatorios están marcados con *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.