Mythologies of the Quimbaya Tribe

The Quimbaya (/kɪmbaɪa/) were a small indigenous group in present-day Colombia noted for their gold work characterized by technical accuracy and detailed designs. The majority of the gold work is made in tumbaga alloy, with 30% copper, which colours the pieces. The Quimbaya inhabited the areas corresponding to the modern departments of Quindío, Caldas and Risaralda in Colombia, around the valley of the Cauca River. There is no clear data about when they were initially established; the current best guess is around the 1st century BCE. The name "quimbaya" has become a traditional generic term to refer to many of the productions and objects found in this geographical area, even if they do not come rigorously from the same ethnic group and come from different epochs in time. The Quimbaya people reached their zenith during the 4th to 7th century CE period known as The Quimbaya Classic. The culture's the most emblematic piece comes from this period, a form of poporo known as the Poporo Quimbaya, on exhibit at the Bogotá Gold Museum. The most frequent designs in the art pieces are anthropomorphic, depicting men and women sitting with closed eyes and placid expression, as well as many fruits and forms of poporos. Most of the retrieved items are part of funeral offerings, found inside sarcophagi made of hollow trunks. The gold represented a sacred metal and the passport for the afterlife. Around the 10th century the Quimbaya culture disappeared entirely due to unknown circumstances; studies of the archeological items point to an advanced cultural development and the political structure of a cacicazgo with separated groups dedicated to pottery, religion, trade, gold work and war.

Quimbaya, the name given to various ethnic groups inhabiting the Middle Cauca River valley of Colombia (departments of Quindío, Risaralda, Caldas, and Antioquia) in the sixteenth century, as well as to an immense complex of archaeological artifacts, dating from approximately 1000 to 1500 ce, that were found in the same region. Quimbaya ceramics of the Caldas complex (1000–1400) are characterized by red resist ware, and the Middle Cauca complex (1050–1500) includes stirrup vessels and anthropomorphic figurines. Gold artifacts associated with cremation burials of elite individuals are documented from the area. The ethnic communities associated with the archaeological complex maintained a high population density supported by maize agriculture. These groups, which exhibited features of the chiefdom level of sociopolitical integration, were characterized by accentuated social hierarchy, hereditary political leaders, and an economic system based on the redistribution of subsistence products. The ethnohistorical record emphasizes Quimbaya religious practices, including human sacrifice and the flaying of slain enemies, as a means of acquiring their power. The Quimbaya of the Conquest period are known for their fierce resistance to Spanish domination, which culminated in a series of mid-sixteenth-century rebellions against the encomienda system. Resistance to Spanish rule continued with attacks on towns on the mining frontier well into the seventeenth century.

Quimbaya artifacts refer to a range of primarily ceramic and gold objects surviving from the Quimbaya civilisation, one of many pre-Columbian cultures of Colombia inhabiting the Middle Cauca River valley and southern Antioquian region of modern-day Colombia. The artifacts are believed to have originated during the Classical Quimbaya period 500 BC–600 AD. Poporos are vessel type containers primarily used to store powdered lime, made from calcined seashells. They were often cast in gold, decorated with human figures and exhibited "great elegance of conception, manufacture, and finish." The most noteworthy poporos artifact is the Poporo Quimbaya exhibited in the Gold Museum in Bogotá, Colombia. Cast using the lost wax technique in Tumbaga alloy around 300 CE, the 777 gram golden vessel was used as a ceremonial device for consuming lime while chewing coca leaves during religious ceremonies. These Quimbaya ceremonial artifacts include anthropomorphic or (often male) human figure objects, often seated, approximately 10-50cm in height, made as cinerary urns cast in gold, or clay slab ceramics. Several examples can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York collection. The stylised figures were often designed portraying a social class and included as offerings in burials in tombs representing the guardians or companions for the deceased Representative of a distinctive Quimbaya style they have been described as "serenely smiling human beings in a variety of quiescent poses".

Quimbaya, an ambiguous term which initially was used to designate only one of the many societies of the central basin of the Cauca River, has been employed in two ways: to describe a group of goldwork manifestations found in an area stretching from the Departments of Caldas and Risaralda to the central part of the Department of Antioquia; and to classify a series of indigenous groups from the Central Cordillera, probably related through their cultural production and traditions. Here, by Quimbaya we shall be referring to an area between the central Cauca River valley, in the portion that is bordered by the Central Cordillera, and the Andes of the extreme southern part of the Department of Antioquia, thus including sectors of the Central as well as the Western Cordillera. We have defined it this way because, despite regional variations and although we are definitely not speaking of a community in ethnic nor cultural terms, we consider many of the historic processes to have been common to the groups of the region. With the Quimbaya area we leave the realm of the southern societies and enter the dominion of the northern part of the country. Tentatively, we shall discuss the two periods of occupation in this region. Lamentably, we do so basing our knowledge on isolated data and on comparisons of style which await archaeological evaluation. A first stage corresponds to what has been called Quimbaya Classic. The discoveries associated with this tradition consist of incised brown ware and spectacular examples of goldwork. This period, which perhaps runs from the first two centuries to the 10th century A.D., had been principally characterized in the Andean region of the Departments of Caldas, Risaralda and Quindio by the presence of ceramics and goldwork related to the Yotoco phase of Calima, San Agustin; and Tolima. Little is known about the lifestyle of these people. Simply there are no data on their population pattern, economy or level of sociopolitical complexity. What has become clear is that beside pieces of Yotoco goldwork, we start to uncover evidence of a highly developed local metallurgy that is far removed from the traditional manifestations of southern goldworking. Their elaboration, both in pure gold and tumbaga, of anthropomorphic and fruit shaped poporos, helmets with embossed decoration, cast globular and tubular necklace beads, bird-shaped pendants, nose rings with lateral prolongations, and beads in the shape of human faces with gentle expressions are outstanding. Later on we shall describe how the goldwork of the societies from the northern part of the country progressed, essentially, by imitating these types of pieces: In later eras, between the 10th and 16th centuries A.D., other gold working practices developed. In the first place, one observes the diminished interest in producing extraordinary pieces, to be replaced by an intensification of the mass production of smaller objects. There were nose rings in the shape of twisted nails, and nose rings and flat circular pendants with raised decoration. In the 16th century, the Andean mountains of the Department of Antioquia were known for the voluminous production of these articles as well as the intense mining of . alluvial gold. Dabeiba, a chiefdom which specialized in goldwork practices, traded part of their production with groups from the Caribbean coast, the Magdalena River and the southern part of the country.

The Quimbaya or Tolima artifacts are a set of gold figurines found in Colombia and dated to between 300 and 1000 AD. Measuring approximately 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7.5cm) in length, there are over 100 of these relics. Archaeologists say they are all zoomorphic figurines, representing birds, fish, insects, bats, and other mammals, while ancient astronaut theorists maintain that at least a handful of them do not represent any known animal, but rather represent ancient flying machines, complete with aerodynamic features, stabilizers and fuselage. Ancient Origins recently visited the Gold Museum in Bogotá, Colombia, to photograph the artifacts on display. Now you can make up your mind as to which theory you choose to believe.

Poporo is a device used by indigenous cultures in present and pre-Columbian South America for storage of small amounts of lime. It is constituted by two pieces: the receptacle, and the lid which includes a pin that is used to carry the lime to the mouth while chewing coca leaves. Since the chewing of coca is sacred for the indigenous people, the poporos are also attributed with mystical powers and social status. The Poporo Quimbaya shown here was found in Antioquia, Colombia in the 19th century and is an imitation of a gourd, whose rounded features were associated with the female body. It was made around 300 CE with a lost-wax casting process. This relic has been a symbol of The Gold's Museum ever since its opening (Bogota, Colombia).

A Poporo is a container used for storing lime that could be procured by crushing seashells and would later be eaten with coca leaves- a tradition in Pre-Columbian South America. This Poporo, made out of gold with a nude female figure carved on either side, is an example of shouldered bottles made by the skilled Quimbaya people. Amazingly, it still contains some powdered lime. 1st - 7th century CE. Quimbaya, Colombia. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).

According to mainstream archeology, the pre-columbian Quimbaya culture were believed to live in South America from 300 to 1550 CE and are best known for their precise gold and metalwork. The majority of gold pieces discovered are made with a tumbaga alloy with 30% copper, very similar to those accounts mentioned by Plato in his dialogues about the lost city of Atlantis. Among the intricate gold works are several types of insects and two devices that stand out to be aerodynamic in nature and shaped like no other insect known to exist. The ancient pieces look very much like the designs of modern airplanes and incorporate a number of features essentially proving the Quimbaya knew and understood principles of flight. Scale replicas of the golden flyer were built five times larger and tested precisely. Results from testing in 1994 proved these ancient mysterious airplane shaped devices were capable of flight, and actually flew very well without any sort of modifications using modern techniques. Modern researchers have mixed beliefs about the Quimbaya civilization, and their presumed knowledge of flight based on gold artifacts. There are arguments regarding this theory over the lack of building materials necessary to make flying machines hundreds of years ago along with the absence of modern engines, and that landing strips for the golden fliers have not been discovered. It's entirely possible for artifacts to be moved around from place to place in the ancient world, especially if they fell victim to a more dominate people, or the cultures migrated for survival over time. The artifacts do exist, and they might help clarify another interesting ancient phenomena not too far from where the Quimbaya once lived. Certain parts of the Nazca lines are believed by some researchers to resemble ancient runways. Quimbaya golden artworks were often buried with the dead as a token necessary for prosperity in the afterlife. Examining the cache of available artifacts it becomes evident the Quimbaya created artworks based on interpretations of real objects and people. The golden airplanes could be evidence of an ancient culture's knowledge of flight well before modern times - Or they could represent of an extinct species of insects. There is also an alternative concept to consider with artifacts such as the Golden Flyer, be it through cultural influence from an outside civilization. Today we find a distinctly intriguing phenomena which takes place after a remote culture is visited for the first time with modern technology present. Isolated tribes visited in both Africa and South America by airplane have both demonstrated shifts in religious beliefs after the visit. One of the tribes welcomed the plane on its second visit with ceremonial fire and statues constructed in the shape of the airplane. Tribes people even went so far as to line themselves along a runway path to greet the visitors. If remote cultures exhibit this sort of behavior during the world's modern technological era, then likely the same concept has played out before. From this angle of thinking, theories then suggest the Quimbaya may have been influenced by another ancient culture, or perhaps, some sort of alien civilization.

The lightning-like decline of the Indian population of New Spain during the 16th century, so convincingly demonstrated in the numerous works of Woodrow Borah and S. F. Cook, represents but one part of a larger and as yet but dimly perceived new world demographic catastrophe. Juan Friede, the new director of the Archivo Nacional in Bogotá and a life-long student of the Indian struggle for land and livelihood in New Granada during the colonial period, is the author of this pioneering analysis of the fate of the Quimbaya tribe of the eastern flank of the middle Cauca depression, Colombia, a people whose principal claim to a place in history has been the exquisite quality and unrivaled craftsmanship of their worked gold and their clay pottery. The original homeland of the Quimbaya, the temperate volcanic slopes of the Quindío district of modern Caldas, is today the most productive coffee-growing area in Colombia. Aboriginally it was also densely peopled, with some 80 hereditary caciques, each the lord of his own village. The coffee fincas that cloak its rolling hills today are literally paved with archeological evidence of past human occupancy. When, in 1540, the city of Cartago Viejo was founded by Jorge Robledo at the site of the modern city of Pereira, the entire Quimbaya-speaking population, estimated at 60,000-80,000, was distributed among some 30 encomenderos. The estimated original 15,000 tributarios (adult males between 14 and 50) had been reduced to 4,553 in a period of the first 20 years; by 1628 only 69 remained, of whom some were forasteros. With the abandonment of Cartago Viejo the Quindío was left an unpeopled wilderness of cañaverales y rastrojo for 250 years, until the arrival of the Antioqueño colonists from the north in the last years of the 19th century.

Quimbaya Museum is a museum located in Armenia, Colombia designed by Colombian Architect Rogelio Salmona. It displays a large collection of pre-Columbian artcrafts: about 390 gold objects, 104 pieces of pottery, 22 stone sculptures, carved woods, and other objects, mainly from the pre-Columbian Quimbaya civilization, Embera and some other amerindian tribes. Some of the most important pieces are the gold Poporos (traditional gadgets for chewing coca leaves) and the zoomorphic vases. Most of the pieces have been preserved by experts from Gold Museum of Bogotá. Together with other pottery, stone, shell, wood and textile archaeological objects, these items, made of what to indigenous cultures was a sacred metal, testify to the life and thought of different societies which inhabited what is now known as Colombia before contact was made with Europe. The Bank of the Republic began helping to protect the archaeological patrimony of Colombia in 1939. The Gold Museum and the Quimbaya Museum are some of its main achievements.

The Quimbaya were well-adapted to the Andean environment and they had a deep knowledge of the local plants and animals. This area is known for its lush landscapes and temperate climate. The religious beliefs and cosmology of the Quimbaya people are not as extensively documented as some other indigenous groups in Colombia. However, they had a rich and complex religious system that was based on a belief in a supreme creator god and several other spirits. The Quimbaya believed that the natural world was sacred and that humans had a responsibility to care for it. The Quimbaya also had a strong belief in the afterlife. They believed that people who lived good lives would go to paradise after death. People who lived bad lives would go to hell. Like many indigenous communities in the region, they likely held spiritual beliefs centered on nature and the interconnectedness of all living things. Their relationship with the natural world was integral to their way of life. The Quimbaya were an indigenous people who inhabited the Colombian Andes from around 1,000 BC to 1,200 AD. They were known for their skilled goldsmithing and their distinctive pottery. The Quimbaya were also expert agricultural people and they cultivated a variety of crops, including maize, beans, and potatoes. The Quimbaya people originally inhabited the area of the Quindío River basin in the Colombian Andes, in the region that is now known as the Cauca Department. The Colombian Andes is a mountainous region with a variety of ecosystems, including rainforests, cloud forests, and high-altitude grasslands.