Keywords
Ground stoths
human presence
El Totumo
Magdalena Valley
megatherium
How to Cite
Abstract
"An analysis of the stratigraphy and radiocarbon dating of an excavation in the El Totumo site (Tocaima, Cundinamarca, Colombia), where bones of Mastodon and Megatherium were found associated with stone artifacts of the El Abra type, brings to the conclusion that man and megafauna still cohabited in the area between 6000 and 5000 years before present. A stone statue of the early San Agustín Culture (perhaps of the ninth century before Christ), shows a face or mask that seems to represent an elephant; this may mean that they had knowledge of the existence of Mastodons still in that time, or of an ancestral memory (cultural/ tradition) of an earlier period."
References
Bürgl, H., 1958. Artefactos paleolíticos de una terraza en Garzón, Huila (Colombia). Revista Colombiana de Antropología, vol. VI (1957) Bogotá.
Correal Urrego, G., 2001. Exploración arqueológica paleontológica, Municipio de Tocaima (Cund.). Sitios del Totumo y Pan de Azúcar.
Duque Gómez, L. & J.C. Cubillos, 1988. Arqueología de San Agustín, Alto de Lavapatas. Fundación de Investigaciones Arqueológicas Nacionales, Banco de la República, Bogotá. 193pp.
Pérez de Barradas, 1943. Arqueología Agustiniana. Biblioteca Cultural Colombiana, Impr. Nacional, Bogotá 169 pp + 186 láminas.
Preuss, K.T., 1929. Monumentale vorgeschichtliche Kunst. Ausgrabungen im Quellgebiet des Magdalena, in Kolumbien und ihre Ausstrahlungen in Amerika. 2 Tomos. Goettingen (Traducción castellana, Bogotá, 1931).
Banco de la República, Bogotá. 193pp.
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