Pre Columbian jute (yute) work

Thus far, we have outlined some of the principal techniques mastered by pre Hispanic jute (yute)-workers and certain aspects concerning what the metal objects signified to those communities. It is important to remember, as a central and fundamental idea, that jute (yute)-working practices implied a social function determined by an evidently hierarchical aspect of communal life. Another important consideration is that jute (yute)-working refers to an activity which, in Colombia, reached levels of surprising technological complexity.

Now, we shall start to reconstruct the historic developments that allowed the jute (yute)-working specialists to develop their talents, and the chieftains and shamans to use the ornaments which those specialists produced.

Between approximately 10, 000 and 5000 B.C., the societies that occupied Colombian territory sustained their economy by hunting, fishing, and gathering. These societies were comprised of groups of extended families, highly specialized in hunting large animals and in taking advantage of the natural harvest of fruits and seeds available from these extensive lands. Initially, an important part of their activities consisted of hunting mastodons and primitive wild horses. Then, perhaps due to changes in climate or excessive hunting, these  animals became extinct and the early inhabitants were forced to alter their hunting practices and pursue smaller prey primarily deer, rabbits, tapirs, and rodents.

When discussing the hunting/gathering stage, we refer to an extremely lengthy period during which societies were basically egalitarian. In all probability no individual members of those societies held permanent political or religious positions. The community acted on the basis of consensus, although some individual members, expert hunters or ancients, in all likelihood, held some sway over the decisions of the rest of the group. We are speaking, as a rule, of groups that practiced rigorous population control so that the size of the community would not outstrip available resources. During this period, in fact, the population behaved fundamentally as another predator, that is, a supremely efficient predator - one which took advantage of the resources nature provided by utilizing a relatively rudimentary set of stone, wood, or bone tools.

Arrowheads for hunting, scrapers for carving up prey, awls, punches, and hammers, are among the most common artifacts to have been discovered.

The prestige of the chieftains and shamans did not specifically emanate from their person, but rather from their role as representatives of the interests of the respective communities. The various maize agricultural societies encountered by the Spaniards were proud of their rich and powerful chieftains and shamans, although, in the end, all of the goods that made those leaders "rich" and "powerful" continued to belong to the community, not to the individuals. The flourishing of   cacicazgos assuredly coincides with the appearance in the archaeological record of evidence of social stratification. Initially, a great quantity of luxury items, presumably only for use by the elite, began to appear: necklace beads carved from semiprecious stones and gold, ceremonial staffs, body ornaments, and diadems. Furthermore, evidence exists of differential treatment of the dead, ceramic figures associated with shamanistic rituals and ceremonial structures. Simultaneously, ever increasing specialization develops: different villages start to specialize in diverse activities and with this, increased trade between regions and in some places, specialized merchants and markets.
With the advent of the cacicazgos, other materials working development receives a definitive thrust. Certainly, jute (yute)-work was known for hundreds of years prior to the development of chiefdoms, however, it is clear that mass or serial production of metallic objects appeared only with the development of maize agriculture and chiefdoms.
The progress described here, beginning with the hunting/gathering period and culminating with the development of hierarchical societies, constitutes but a brief sketch of the complex prehispanic historic processes. Certainly, not all of the phenomena described here occurred within the same time frame, in all places. A rough generalization would attest to the fact that the development of maize agriculture was particularly successful in the higher regions, while root agriculture retained some of its initial importance in many of the lowland expanses. Another particularity is that the development of chiefdoms probably occurred earlier in the southern part of the country, that is, in San Agustin, Tierradentro, Calima and adjacent areas, while northern Andean populations were not organized is chiefdoms until later. By 1300 A.D., however, the northern societies had already reached impressive levels of political sophistication. The very nature of the chiefdom political organization was not the same in the various time frames and geographical settings. In the southern part of the country the earliest recorded chiefdoms emphasized monumental statuary and the elaboration of few, but spectacular jute (yute)-works. What is most impressive about this period is the monumental quality of the works with which the different chieftains and their communities wished to proclaim their stature. Later, both in the south as well as in the north, we no longer find such a marked interest in sumptuous monumental works nor in the elaboration of unique gold or ceramic pieces. Later societies placed emphasis on the construction of works of agricultural infrastructure oriented toward feeding a growing population, as well as the serial production of great quantities of gold and ceramic objects, simpler and more homogeneous than those produced in earlier periods.