Paleo-Indian Period 15000 / 5000 BC.

Presence of groups of hunters who came from the Asiatic continent dedicated exclusively to the hunting of large mammals (mastodons, horses, megathere and glyptodons) with a lithographic technology based on obtaining chips of stones after the impact exercised by the nucleuses of stones. Moreover it can be observed an incipient work in wood and shells, etc.

The introduction of the point of the projectile and the propeller represented a very important technological advance allowing to gain access to a wide range of animals, with less risk for the humans.

Meso-Indian 5000 / 1000 BC

Archaeological evidence shows that the north of Venezuela was an area of great concentration of picking communities. On the coasts of Sucre and Anzoátegui and on the island of Cubagua there is evidence of the abandonment of stone industry and of the adoption of an economy based on the collection of marine products.

The exploitation of marine resources and the collection of vegetable allowed them to confirm a certain sedentariness which led to the first manifestations of agriculture. However, the occupation of marine spaces and the material evidence related to this (fish hooks, weights for nets and tools for making harpoons, to open shells and make canoes) are proof of the importance of the marine and marshy environment.

In a situation as the one described the social organisation would be the result of the perfecting of the bands, who would join together during times of abundance and divide up when there was scarcity.

Neo-Indian period (1000 BC. / 1500 AD)

During this period the agricultural exploitation and the human settlements were consolidated. Furthermore, the cultural relations with areas such as the Andes (Colombian high plateau and the central Andes) materialised due to the existence of simple pottery, incipient architecture and a system of subsistence based on the cultivation of tuber such as potato, ruba, cuiba, goose and ulluco. The architecture consisted of constructions such as agricultural terraces, vaults lined by stones (mintoyes) used as graves and silos for the storage of agricultural products.

In the western plains there is evidence of artificial constructions associated with agriculture, terraces, elevated fields, ridges or embankments which functioned as retaining walls for the water in the areas subject to flooding and allowed, amongst other things, to cross them on foot. There are also signs of irrigation channels in the plains of the Turbio, Tocuyo, Yaracuy, and Güeque rivers, and of irrigation agriculture among the caquetíos, of whom their pre-Hispanic practice of the damming, is known, from which they took out irrigation channels mainly for watering with water from the mountain range of San Luís (Falcón). There are also signs of channels by the side of the Mamo river and the area of Orinoco.

The archaeology and ethno-history have demonstrated the close and intense relations between the different societies of Pre-Hispanic Venezuela and the existence of a commercial network plains of Barinas, Portuguesa, Cojedes and Apure would be a significant area for links between the area of the Andes, the Caribbean coast and the basin of the Orinoco.

The earliest evidence of pottery can be found in the mouth of the Orinoco and date back to 900BC. The first settlers in Bajo Orinoco developed a trade known as the ravine tradition, characterised the relief or “Carving” of images and the use of motifs in the form of animals and decorative bands with repeated geometrical incisions. The societies of the central coastal region of Venezuela and the basin of the lake of Valencia between the years 800 and 600 of our era carried out a ceramic production in which animals figures, mainly monkeys and frogs, predominated, and the well known Venus de Tacarigua, that present hypertrophy of the head, swelling in the abdominal region, and the gluteus, and atrophy of the feet.

In the Andes, and in general, in the areas around the north east of Venezuela, the social organisation is more complex, and the use of the land more efficient, given that they count on the use of techniques and hydraulic resources and a political control of the population. The differential burial that can be observed in some cemeteries suggests a complex ceremonial life and the social stratification with a structure of central power.

The archaeological register corresponds basically to spaces, being able to assure the existence of a complex ceremonial life. The piache, the spiritual leader and preserver of the traditions, convokes the respect of his people.

The existence of the chiefdoms with important families and powerful groups explain the high level of resistance to the Spanish conquest. Amongst these chiefs, warriors or chiefs according to written references of the colonial period highlight – Manuare – an area of the present-day state of Falcón during the first decades of the 16th century. The indigenous institution of the chiefdom survived with evident changes during a major part of the Indo-Hispano period.

The geographical diversity of Venezuela and its evident topographical differences influenced in the large number of cultural manifestations that varied from the groups of hunters in the area of the Orinoco to more complex cultural developments in the area closer to the Andes. Similarly the proximity to the islands determined some cultural movements in the area of the Antilles, specifically with the Taina culture.

Culture or Camay style

Camay can be found in the state of Lara, in the west of the country. From the archaeological perspective, it is worth highlighting the style of Camay pottery, which dates back to between 300 and 1000 AD.

Some funeral spaces have been excavated that have allowed the recuperation of a significant sample of the production of pottery, as well as objects in shells, stones, and clay figures. All these figures lavishly decorated with printed motifs, painted decoration and three-dimensional modelling that formed part of the funeral furnishing of the privileged groups of this Venezuelan cultural tradition.

This pottery tradition can be found extensively throughout western Venezuela from the area close to the Andes to the spaces adjacent to the area of Quibor, even reaching as far as the area within the Llanos, or plains.

It is evident the influence of the early culture of Valdivia in Ecuador, being notable in both cases the clear association between agricultural productivity, the consolidation of stable settlements and the start and diffusion of pottery activities. In some cases, the previous basketwork tradition can be seen in certain decorative motifs in the production of Venezuelan pottery, that of the Camay, amongst others.

Cultures of Lara and Trujillo

The cultures, or better said, ceramic styles of Lara and Trujillo can be found located in the eastern part of the Venezuelan republic and the existing archaeological information is fundamentally focussed on the analysis of collections of pottery that form part of the funeral furnishing. With regard to general cultural characteristics of these social groups, the information is much more reduced.

The general chronology in which the productions basically of pottery of these societies was developed, extend between 300 and the first millennium after Christ, a moment of great wealth in terms of the production of pottery in the different Venezuelan territories.

This culture is spread around the north eastern part of the republic, in the present day states of Lara, Falcón and part of the states of Zulia and Yaracuy.

The research works began in the decade of the thirties of the 20th century, with the excavation of the important settlements of Lara, Cerro del Manzano. The latter is a cemetery is which the bodies of the dead were places around a central character accompanied by a considerable number of objects. There is also information about the living quarters in the settlements around Barquisimeto, as well as in the area of Quibor.

During the last millennium before Christ, various human groups detached from the ancient agro-pottery people of the state of Lara, colonised the basin of the lake of Maracaibo, establishing a network of sedentary hamlets that reached as far as the plains of the territory of the Guajira and the north east of Colombia. For the beginning of the Christian era there was already constructed in the north east of Venezuela what we could consider to be a oekumene arawako. The nucleus of this social formation was found in the lower Andes valleys in the state of Lara, where for this period was being produced the consolidation of a political, social and hierarchically cultural society. The economic organisation was supported by intensified agriculture by means of the use of irrigation systems and planting in artificial terraces, which allowed them to obtain an important surplus production.

The research works in places such as Camay confirm the reuse of funeral spaces as places for living. The settlements documented in the states Yaracuy, Falcón and Zulia are fundamentally necropolis with contributions of various ceramic materials of which it is worth highlighting urns of very varied shapes and decorative designs that have allowed the defining of typologies, but without having available precise information about the way of life of the communities.

The state of Trujillo is the smallest of the Andes states, and also the one with the smallest absolute population, although its density is greater than that of the state of Mérida. It can be found located in the western part of Venezuela and its frontiers are: in the north, the states of Zulia and Lara; to the south, the states of Mérida and Barinas; in the east Portuguesa in the west is the shore of the Lake of Maracaibo. The landscape is very broken up due to the Venezuelan Andes mountain range (Sierra de Mérida), that forms part of the Major Mountain Range of the Andes, although there is a vast plain region in the depression of the Lake of Maracaibo.

The pottery tradition of Trujillo is fundamentally characterized by lavishly decorated anthropomorphic figures that have been documented in caves, and either interpreted as ritual objects that represent relevant characters within the communities, or simply, representations of daily activities.

The ceramic repertoire has basically been recuperated in funeral spaces, both in the areas of Trujillo as well as in the state of Mérida. As well as the collection of pottery, there are figures in stone and personal ornaments. In the case of the pottery they are global in shape, bowls and jugs with ring-shaped bases, as well pieces with small tripod feet. The decoration has inlaid work, pointed on uncooked clay, in spiral designs, curved lines, etc.

The human figures are abundant, both masculine and feminine, in individual forms, complete bodies, either associated with a recipient or a banquet on which they are supported.

As well as the ceramic collections, it is worth highlighting ornamental pieces made from stone or shells such as pendants with human representations that vary between figurative shapes or other more schematic models.

The construction of dwellings are located on higher ground and are built with perishable materials, which explained the difficulty for their conservation and archaeological documentation.