Social-political development of the muisca culture (Columbia)in the light of archaeological data

Archaeological research of the Muisca culture dating from the second half ofII millennium AD in Central Columbia sheds new light on the written sources of the earlyperiod of colonization (XVI-XVII cc.), which describe the Muisca way of life and socialorganization during their first contacts with the Spanish colonizers of South America.Modern Western historiography considers the Muisca polities as complex chiefdoms,whereas the comparison of archaeological data and ethno-historical sources gives groundsto suggest the term of super-complex chiefdom.