By analysing population distribution, centralisation and demography, and comparing these with the density of pottery, bone and stone remains found on archaeological digs and in archaeological exploration work in a given geographical area, archaeologists can study the characteristic features of past societies, including land occupation.

In the case of San Agustín, the data obtained shows that population distribution was the same throughout its three settlement periods, and that numbers gradually rose.

The period that archaeologists have called the Formative Period began around 1000 B.C., since it was at this time that sedentary, agricultural societies first began to settle in the La Plata valley region. Although they were not numerous, these societies are known to have congregated in groups that have been interpreted as being independent political units or communities, from which it has been deduced that centralisation of the population had got under way.

Later, during the Regional Classical Period between 1 and 900 A.D., the population began to increase and to live in villages, with between 4,000 and 8,000 people living in an area of approximately 100km2. The rise of these villages coincides with the appearance of funerary monuments, specially built to commemorate and immortalise certain individuals.

Finally, data relating to regional demography and settlement patterns indicates that during the final - or Recent - period, between 900 and 1530 A.D., the population increased yet again, but went on living in the same communities, becoming even more centralised than during the previous period. Excavations of the foundations of houses have revealed that these were circular or oval. Statues were not being carved any more during this period.

The San Agustín region enjoys different types of climate, ranging from vast alluvial terraces at heights of 800 metres above sea level to undulating inclines above 1,400 metres, where the climate is cooler and wetter. Throughout the three periods, the vast majority of people lived at places between 1,500 and 2,000 metres above sea level, but because this wide range of differing environments was so close at hand, they were able to exploit many different resources and farm in different climates.

Recent archaeological research in the neighbouring La Plata valley has shown that most people did not live in the areas where the soil was most productive, but the idea has not been ruled out that the population concentrations were what they were because of environmental factors or the distribution of resources in the region.

By studying various domestic units, it was possible to gather and analyse pollen samples, charred remains of plants and phytoliths, and this work enabled information about agricultural production to be reconstructed, with things like the plant communities that once existed around the homes being identified.

We know that of the main products grown, the most important was maize (Zea mays), which was grown at all levels up to 1,700 metres above sea level. Pollen samples have also been found from other plants, such as sweet potato, cassava (Manihot esculenta), chilli (Capsicum sp.), malanga and amaranth.

Other features studied by archaeologists have included the way groups were organised in the past, and the hierarchies that existed amongst them. To do this, matters like the regional distribution of settlements was researched, or population centralisation and demography, or social, political, economic and religious organisation.

At San Agustín, the areas where the best soils were to be found were not chosen by most people to settle on, and pottery objects were made by all political units. We could thus think that we are talking of societies that were less concerned with optimising economic matters than with other things, like religion or ideology.

Anyway, obvious features like the fact that large ceremonial centres were built indicate that there were important hierarchies in San Agustín society, and these could have developed from around the end of the Formative Period (1,000 B.C. to 100 A.D.). They were nevertheless very marked in the Regional Classical Period (100 A.D. to 900 A.D.), which is associated with the building of funerary monuments and stone statues, and they extended through the Recent Period (900 A.D. to 1,500 A.D.).

The iconography of the dignitaries who were portrayed in the statues that were built during the Regional Classical Period suggest that those leaders were closely linked to religious practices, rituals, spiritual power and ideology. The people congregated and settled around the religious centres.

San Agustín and the Gold Museum Exhibition

San Agustín: Development of a Hierarchical Society

The Art of Carving Stone

Archaeological Parks: San Agustín