List of Muisca and pre-Muisca sites

This is a list of Muisca and pre-Muisca archaeological sites; sites on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, where archaeological evidence has been discovered of the Muisca and their ancestors of the Herrera, preceramic and prehistorical periods.

A

Ti

Su

Te

C

Ag

Sa

H

I

ST

CZ

Important pre-Muisca sites on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense
Rock shelters
Open area settlements
Constructed sites
A - El Abra
Ti - Tibitó
Su - Sueva
Te - Tequendama
C - Checua/Nemocón
Ag - Aguazuque
Sa - Sáchica
H - Lake Herrera
I - El Infiernito
ST - Sun Temple
CZ - Cojines del Zaque

Over the course of the centuries and mainly in the 21st century, many sites with evidences of Muisca and pre-Muisca presence have been found and reported.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

The possibly oldest evidence of human settlement in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes has been discovered just west of the former Muisca territories, at Pubenza in Tocaima, Cundinamarca. Eight stone tools have been found with bone remains, consisting of among others Haplomastodon and turtles, which have been dated at 16,400 ± 420 years BP. Due to the location at an inundated platform, it is unclear if the bones and thus age were in situ.^[6]

Background

Stage	Start age	End age
Prehistory		10,000
Preceramic	10,000	2800
Herrera	2800	1200
Muisca	1200	479
Colonial period	479	206
Colombia	206

See also: Muisca Confederation § Prehistory, Andean preceramic, Herrera Period, Muisca art, and Spanish conquest of the Muisca

The Altiplano Cundiboyacense, with its valleys of Sogamoso-Duitama, Tunja and Ubaté-Chiquinquirá and the southeastern flatlands of the Bogotá savanna, as well as the Tenza Valley to the east, was inhabited for 12,000 years by indigenous peoples. At the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, the area of approximately 25,000 square kilometres (9,700 sq mi) was populated by the Muisca, organised in a loose confederation; the Muisca Confederation.

While various classifications of the archaeological history of the Andean high plateau exist,^[7] the most commonly accepted sequence, in years BP, is shown to the right.

Timeline of inhabitation

Timeline of inhabitation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia
	Altiplano Muisca Confederation

List of Muisca and pre-Muisca sites

Site name	Image	Municipality	Department	Start	End	Oldest date years BP	Finds	Notes	Map
El Abra		Zipaquirá	Cundinamarca	Prehistory	Herrera	12,560	Rock art Stone tools	[1]
Tibitó		Tocancipá	Cundinamarca	Prehistory	Herrera	11,850	Stone & bone tools Carbon	[1]
Sueva		Junín	Cundinamarca	Prehistory	Herrera	11,180	Rock shelter	[1]
Tequendama		Soacha	Cundinamarca	Prehistory	Spanish conquest	11,120	Stone tools Domestication of guinea pigs	[1]
Piedras del Tunjo		Facatativá	Cundinamarca	Prehistory or Preceramic	Muisca	unknown	Rock art Stone tools	[3]
Galindo		Bojacá	Cundinamarca	Preceramic	Herrera	8800	Open area settlement	[1]
Checua		Nemocón	Cundinamarca	Preceramic	Herrera	8500	Stone tools	[1][8]
		Nemocón	Cundinamarca	Preceramic		7630	Rock shelter Main salt producing town	[1]
Piedra del Indio Chía I-VIII Moon Temple		Chía	Cundinamarca	Preceramic		5140	Rock art Burial site Religious place	[1][9]
		Zipaquirá	Cundinamarca	Preceramic		5140	Main salt producing town	[1][10]
Aguazuque		Soacha	Cundinamarca	Preceramic	Herrera	4065	Stone tools Burial grounds Human remains Guinea pigs, deer	[1][11]
Lake Herrera		Madrid Mosquera Bojacá	Cundinamarca	Preceramic	Herrera	3410	Stone tools Ceramics	[12]
SO10-IX		Sativanorte	Boyacá	Preceramic	Preceramic	3386	Muisca mummy	[13]
		Zipacón	Cundinamarca	Preceramic		3270	Rock shelter Rock art Oldest agriculture	[1]
El Infiernito		Villa de Leyva	Boyacá	Preceramic	Muisca	2975	Archaeoastronomical site Muisca mummy	[14][15]
		Pasca	Cundinamarca	Herrera		1400	Muisca raft	[16]
		Buenavista	Boyacá	Herrera		1396	Nose piece and pectoral dated at 620 & 990 AD	[17]
		Suesca	Cundinamarca	Muisca			150 Muisca mummies Petrographs Ceramics	[2][3][4] [5][14]
		Gachantivá	Boyacá	Muisca			Muisca mummy Muisca copper mines	[18][19][14]
		Gachancipá	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Muisca mummy	[14]
		Ubaté	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Muisca mummy	[14]
		Tenjo	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Tibacuy	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Berbeo	Boyacá	Muisca			Petroglyphs	[2][3][4][5]
		Sáchica	Boyacá	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
Ocetá Páramo		Monguí	Boyacá		Muisca		Petroglyphs Birth sites Myths	[20]
Payará		Tausa	Cundinamarca					[21]
		Choachí	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Choachí Stone	[22]
		La Calera	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Chipaque	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Cogua	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Cota	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Cucunubá	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Guachetá	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Guasca	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Guatavita	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Machetá	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Madrid	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Mosquera	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		San Antonio del Tequendama	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		San Francisco	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Sibaté	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Subachoque	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Tena	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Tibiritá	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Tocancipá	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Une	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Bosa	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Usme	Cundinamarca	Muisca			Muisca mummy Petrographs	[2][3][4] [5][14]
		Boavita	Boyacá	Muisca			Muisca mummy	[14]
		Tasco	Boyacá	Muisca			Muisca mummy	[14]
		Tópaga	Boyacá	Muisca			Muisca mummy	[14]
		Gámeza	Boyacá	Muisca			Muisca mummy Petrographs	[2][3][4] [5][14]
		Belén	Boyacá	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Iza	Boyacá	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Mongua	Boyacá	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Motavita	Boyacá	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Ramiriquí	Boyacá	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Saboyá	Boyacá	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Tibaná	Boyacá	Muisca			Petrographs	[2][3][4][5]
		Sutamarchán	Boyacá	Muisca			Muisca ceramics production	[19]
		Tinjacá	Boyacá	Muisca			Muisca ceramics production	[19]
Sun Temple		Sogamoso	Boyacá	Muisca	September 1537		Most important Muisca temple	[23]
Cojines del Zaque		Tunja	Boyacá	Muisca	Early colonial		Religious place	[24]
Hunzahúa Well		Tunja	Boyacá	Muisca	Early colonial		Mythological place	[25]
Goranchacha Temple		Tunja	Boyacá	Muisca	Early colonial		Temple of Goranchacha	[26]

See also

• History portal
• Colombia portal
• Indigenous peoples of the Americas portal

• List of Muisca research institutes, archaeological sites in Colombia
• Muisca art
• Muisca Confederation, economy
• Lake Guatavita, Tota, Iguaque, Suesca, Fúquene, Siecha Lakes, Tequendama Falls
• List of Maya sites