ABSTRACT
A number of prehistoric and indigenous cultures are reported in the archaeological and ethnographic literature for the northwestern area of the continent. This chapter deals with the more recent Tairona and Kogi of the north of Colombia. The Kogi, in particular, came to worldwide attention when they invited representatives of the British Broadcasting Company up to their remote mountainside enclave to view and film their strongly traditional and enduring lifestyle. Whereas the modern Kogi are organized at the level of an egalitarian village society, it is likely that local Tairona subsistence-settlement systems consisted of two classes of people, or elites and commoners, organized at the level of a chiefdom society. Pedro Simon notes that the Tairona were outstanding cultivators who grew much maize, yuca, chili peppers, cotton, and many varieties of fruit trees, such as guayaba and guanabana. The chapter discusses the data from the ancient Valdivia Period site of Real Alto, located on the southwest coast of Ecuador.
