Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

Intermediate Area

Between the highly developed civilizations of Mesoamerica and the
South American Andes lies a region archaeologists have dubbed the
“Intermediate Area.” Comprising parts of El Salvador, Honduras,
Ecuador, and Venezuela, and all of Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua,
and Colombia, at the time of the European invasion it was by no
means a unified political territory but rather was divided among
many small rival chiefdoms. Although the people of the Intermedi-
ate Area did not produce monumental architecture on the scale of
their neighbors to the north and south and, unlike the Mesoameri-
cans, left no written records, they too were consummate artists. Pot-
ters in the Intermediate Area made some of the earliest ceramics of
the Americas, and they continued to create an astonishing variety of
terracotta vessels and figures until the time of the Spanish conquest.
Among the other arts practiced in the Intermediate Area were stone
sculpture and jade carving. Inhabitants throughout the region
prized goldworking, and the first Europeans to make contact here
were astonished to see the natives nearly naked but covered in gold
jewelry. The legend of El Dorado, a Colombian chief who coated
himself in gold as part of his accession rites, was largely responsible
for the Spanish invaders’ ruthless plunder of the region.

TAIRONAIn northern Colombia (MAP14-2), the Sierra Nevada
de Santa Marta rises above the Caribbean. The topography of lofty
mountains and river valleys provided considerable isolation and fos-
tered the independent development of various groups. The inhabi-
tants of this region after about 1000 CEincluded a group known as
the Tairona, whose metalwork is among the finest of all the ancient
American goldworking styles. MAP14-2Early sites in Andean South America.

Sipán

Moche

Chavín de

Huántar

Wari

Tiwanaku

Paracas

Nasca

Bogotá

Quito

Lima

Cusco

La Paz

PACIFIC

OCEAN

PACIFIC

OCEAN

Caribbean SeaCaribbean Sea

Lake Titicaca

AmazonR.

Or

inoc

oR.

Sierra Nevada

del Cocuy

Sierra Nevada

de Santa Marta

A

nd

es

COSTA RICA

NICARAGUA

PANAMA

COLOMBIA

VENEZUELA

PERU

BRAZIL

CHILE

BOLIVIA

ECUADOR

TAIRONA

0 250 500 miles

0 250 500 kilometers

Archaeological site

14-17Colossal atlantids, pyramid B, Toltec, Tula, Mexico, ca.900–1180 CE. Stone, each 16high.

The colossal statue-columns of Tula portraying warriors armed with darts and spear-throwers reflect the military regime of the

Toltecs, whose arrival in central Mexico coincided with the decline of the Maya.

1 ft.

Intermediate Area 379