Entre La Pedrera y Araracuara: la arqueología del medio río Caquetá

Abstract

La arqueología del medio río Caquetá, en la Amazonía colombiana, se conoció recién en los 1970s a partir de los resultados de proyectos de investigación pioneros en Araracuara y La Pedrera. Estas investigaciones identificaron secuencias cerámicas diferentes en cada localidad, documentaron una gran cantidad de petroglifos y, por primera vez, registraron suelos antrópicos negros y pardos en el Noroeste Amazónico. Investigaciones posteriores enfatizaron el estudio de archivos ambientales (arqueobotánicos y geoarqueológicos) y registraron ocupaciones pre-cerámicas del Holoceno temprano y medio. Éstas son particularmente importantes debido a que los datos arqueobotánicos asociados sugieren que las poblaciones de la región cultivaron tempranamente una variedad de plantas comestibles, varias de ellas domesticadas en otras regiones. Sin embargo, la arqueología del medio río Caquetá todavía presenta una serie de interrogantes importantes respecto de las ocupaciones del pre-cerámico y de los extensos sitios de habitación de grupos alfareros. Con respecto a estos últimos, es particularmente importante evaluar hasta qué punto estas ocupaciones se pueden enmarcar en las grandes tradiciones cerámicas conocidas para la Amazonía y la cuenca del Orinoco. En este artículo resumimos la información existente sobre la arqueología del medio río Caquetá y presentamos nuevos datos preliminares producidos en los últimos años, ello con el objetivo de evaluar el estado de nuestros conocimientos y fomentar el desarrollo de futuras investigaciones arqueológicas en la región.

Diversity, multilingualism and inter-ethnic relations in the long-term history of the Upper Rio Negro region of the Amazon

“…As for Zucchi [59], the Nofurei phase could represent innovations in the Camani phase due to contact with potters producing Japurá ceramics. For Arroyo-Kalin et al [72], the Nofurei phase shows important differences regarding other neighbouring and contemporaneous Amazonian Polychrome ceramics, such as the Napo, Tefé and Guarita phases, especially in the forms of vessels and modes of plastic and paint decoration, suggesting that such differences could be the result of a ceramics that derive from Pocó-Açutuba but is strongly influenced (in stylistic terms) by the expansion of groups in the Polychrome tradition and that the expansion of these latter groups could have pushed the original producers of Pocó-Açutuba ceramics towards the Araracuara and Peña Roja areas. Gomes & Neves [53] suggest that the arrival of the Polychrome tradition occurred in a friendly disposition with original producers of Pocó-Açutuba ceramics in the Japurá area, with relations such as intermarriage, commerce, imitation and emulation of ceramics between producers of both traditions in this section of the Amazon river.…”

“…Unfortunately, for both scenarios we still need more solid evidence from the internal classification of JC-Arawakan languages 10 The migration of the Achagua-Piapoco was well summarized from an ethnological point of view by Vidal [30], who analysed the mythical narratives of the Piapoco and indicated that the ancestors of these groups left the Içana, went up the Vaupés from where they crossed to the upper Guaviare and from there to the Alto Orinoco and the Llanos Orientales. This path can also be represented in the archaeological record, such as the population growth in the Upper Orinoco with the arrival of the Piapoco and the archaeological sites of Granada and Manacacias [59,72], which corresponds to the routes mentioned in the mythical history of the Piapoco. Similar to Nofurei, Granada was classified as part of the Amazon Polychrome tradition, royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsfs Interface Focus 13: 20220050 which, according to Mora (1989: 192 fn 6) is supported by its chronology and its decorative style (white, red and black painting with complex geometric designs).…”

“…The most ancient indication to the presence of Arawakan languages in the Japurá is the appearance of Pocó ceramics around the Amanã site by 2790 ± 30 BP [66], in a second layer of human occupation, which matches Heckenberger's [34] temporal window of Arawakan's initial diaspora. Although Ramirez suggests a possible link between the Japurá ceramics from Mangueiras site to the arrival of Proto-JC, there are undefinitions regarding the dating of this event, as Mangueiras and the nearby La Pedrera site show initial dates varying from more than 1000 BCE for Arroyo-Kalin et al [72] to 500 CE for Reichel Von Hildebrand [106]. In any event, if we assume the most conservative dates, Japurá sites seem to represent both an area to which Arawakan languages were brought to as well as a zone where new diversification processes took place.…”

“…In upriver sites around La Pedrera in Colombia, Japurá ceramics and dark Earth deposits have also been reported with dates ranging from 560 ± 75 CE, 560 ± 21 CE to 1164–1246 CE [71]. Other authors report much older dates going back to 1900 BCE and lasting up to 1300 CE [72], which would suggest an origin in the NWA, although there are dates in the Tapajós-Trombetas with the same antiquity. Myers [73] states that the occupations with Incised Rim pottery from this region (560 AD) show small sites, different to what has been seen in Central Amazonia and comparable to the sizes of the early twentieth century malocas of Tiquié and Ayari in the URN.…”

“…Further upriver in the middle Caquetá, there are several important sites such as Araracuara, Abeja and Peña Roja, where remains related to Pocó-Açutuba and the Incised Rim Tradition have not been consistently found, only some fragments in Peña Roja [72]. In fact, these sites are marked by regional ceramic phases such as the Méidote (500–1300 CE), only found in Abeja) and the Camani (800 BCE–900 CE) that are not related to any of the great Amazonian traditions.…”