Social variability and leadership strategies in the Llanos of the Orinoco

Summary

Ethnohistoric descriptions and archaeological evidence suggest that in the Llanos regions of Casanare (Colombia) and Barinas (Venezuela) between the Andes and the Orinoco/Amazon basin, agricultural intensification provided the resources that enabled aspiring elites to pursue their political strategies during prehispanic times. Warfare and feasting were especially important strategies in the early complex societies of Barinas. The presence of nearby highly developed Muisca chiefdoms, however, provided Casanare elites with opportunities for focusing on specialized production and medium-distance exchange that were not available for the inhabitants of Barinas. This presentation explores how the historical trajectories of change differed in two parts of the same broad environmental zone and how the distinct aspects of those differences relate to each other. Central to this discussion is the nature of leadership and the conditions of its raise and transformation through time. The concept of chiefdom as it was originally thought for this region does not capture the huge variability of the social organization of the societies from the Llanos before the arrival of the Europeans.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• More than a Label: Social Complexity, Variability and Social Diversity in the Orinoco and Amazon Basins

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