Subsistence economy and chiefdom emergence in the Muisca area. A study of the Valle de Tena

For many years the argument has been advanced that the agricultural use of different ecological zones by a single ethnic group---usually known as verticality---was an important part of the political economy of chiefdoms and states in the Andes. Such vertical economies would constitute agricultural intensification used to extract surplus and finance the enterprises of elite groups. Specifically, this has been suggested for some Muisca chiefdoms, located in the northern Andes of Colombia. Ethnohistoric accounts suggest an important economic role in the especially large Bogota chiefdom for the provision of agricultural products derived from this kind of vertical economy in the nearby Valle de Tena region.;Several lines of evidence argue against the idea that the Valle de Tena was a major supplier of agricultural products to the Sabana de Bogota. They also cast serious doubt on the existence of agriculture in this region organized into a vertical economy. On the contrary, archaeological evidence indicates the presence of independent, compact local communities in the Valle de Tena.;This research sought to document the patterns of human occupation in the Valle de Tena and their relationship with agricultural productivity. The main goal was to evaluate the possible relevance of a vertical economy in the Valle de Tena to the emergence of Muisca chiefdoms in the Sabana de Bogota. To accomplish this goal archaeological data were collected in a systematic survey of 144.7km2.