Plant Diversity in the Archaeological Record: A Means Toward Defining Hunter–Gatherer Mobility Strategies

The diversity and ubiquity measures of archaeological macrobotanical remains can be utilized to help define mobility strategies of hunter–gatherers. Differences in the diversity and ubiquity of plant remains are predicted to occur between different types of sites utilized by hunter–gatherers. Such sites include base camps of residentially and logistically mobile groups, as well as special-purpose sites usually associated with logistically mobile groups. The focus upon the importance of strategies of mobility and plant use instead of the typological determination of plant taxa allows for the use of specimen types in such analyses when scientific identifications are difficult to make. Data from the archaeological site of San Jacinto 1, located in northern Colombia, are utilized to examine this relationship.     

THE AMBER OF EL DORADO: CLASS IB ARCHAEOLOGICAL AMBERS ASSOCIATED WITH LAGUNA GUATAVITA*

Laguna Guatavita, a crater‐like lake located in central Colombia, was used by pre‐Columbian Muisca people for a variety of socio‐religious ceremonies, many of which involved casting offerings into the lake. Of these, the installation of a new ‘king’ became the basis of the El Dorado myth that was carried back to Europe by 16th century conquistadores. In the present study, beads collected from Laguna Guatavita during a late 19th/early 20th century attempt to recover valuables from the lake bed, have been subjected to geochemical analysis. Results establish that these artefacts have been fabricated from Class Ib amber. Class Ib ambers have not previously been reported in either the geological or archaeological records of Central or South America, and their existence in this context implies that the Muisca people had access to a unique local or regional source of amber, knowledge of which has subsequently been lost.