A curated repository that extends Proyecto AD’s questions from the Aburrá Valley to Colombia and Latin America. Articles, dissertations, reports and catalogues for researching the valley, Antioquia, Colombia and Latin America.
Thematic repository
Find your next reading
A broad selection of research and gateways to academic collections. No directory can guarantee that it contains every study: some records are not digitised, move location or have restricted access. Here you can search for individual documents and continue exploring institutional repositories. Cases from elsewhere help formulate comparisons and new questions; they do not replace archaeological evidence from the Aburrá Valley or turn formal similarity into cultural identity.
72
curated resources
22
research studies
7
themes
4
geographical scales
All resources are available below.
01
Subregional scale
Aburrá Valley: research and contexts
Settlements, peopling, paths, material culture and heritage in Medellín, Envigado, Bello and the valley as a whole.
Neyla Castillo’s study of settlement patterns, landscape units and spatial organisation. It is best read alongside subsequent preventive archaeological investigations.
ResearchText availableSettlementLandscape
Reference and review
Castillo Espita N. Reconocimiento arqueológico en el Valle de Aburrá. Boletín de Antropología. 1995;9(25):49-90. doi:10.17533/udea.boan.343759.
Primary document containing contexts, laboratory codes, calibrations and palaeobotanical evidence. It underpins one of the longest sequences discussed in Proyecto AD’s Timeline.
ResearchText availableDatingPalaeobotany
Reference and review
Santos Vecino G. Investigaciones arqueológicas en El Escobero, municipio de Envigado (Antioquia) [report on the Internet]. Envigado: Archivo Histórico, Secretaría de Educación para la Cultura; 2011.
Demographic change, settlements and relationships between societies and their environment. Institutional book record; free download has not been confirmed.
ResearchBibliographic record
Reference and review
Langebaek KH, Piazzini CE, Dever A, Espinosa I. Arqueología y guerra en el Valle de Aburrá: estudio de cambios sociales en una región del noroccidente de Colombia. Bogotá: IFEA-Ediciones Uniandes; 2002.
Geoarchaeological study of soils, micromorphology and evidence for domestic activities and cultivation at Monte Azul.
ResearchText available
Reference and review
Godoy-Toro A, Loaiza-Usuga JC, Monsalve-Marín C, Weber-Scharff M, Torres-Guerrero CA. Ancient anthropogenic soils and activity areas of the Colombian Andean region: a geoarchaeological approach. Geoarchaeology. 2022;37(1):120-147. doi:10.1002/gea.21876.
Pottery, styles, temporalities and a deposit of vessel fragments at Piedras Blancas. The record leads to the original publication.
ResearchBibliographic record
Reference and review
Botero Páez S, Druc IC, Brooks WE, Montoya Granda E. Arcilla y cultura: nuevos y viejos datos sobre la cerámica prehispánica en la cuenca alta de la quebrada Piedras Blancas. Bol Antropol. 2017;32(54):224-251. doi: 10.17533/udea.boan.v32n54a10.
Comparison of two dwelling places at Piedras Blancas: domestic practices, production and social differences.
ResearchText available
Reference and review
Obregón Cardona M. Lugares de habitación prehispánicos en el Valle de Aburrá: grupos domésticos, prácticas y diferencias sociales. Bol Antropol. 2017;32(54):192-223. doi: 10.17533/udea.boan.v32n54a09.
Investigation of structures and enclosed fields on the Santa Elena plateau: methods, interpretations and open questions.
ResearchText available
Reference and review
Botero Páez S. Gente antigua, Piedras Blancas, campos circundados. Vestigios arqueológicos en el altiplano de Santa Elena (Antioquia, Colombia). Bol Antropol. 1999;13(30):265-305. doi:10.17533/udea.boan.337542.
Survey report on the upper Piedras Blancas catchment, examining the historical construction of the landscape.
ResearchText available
Reference and review
Botero Páez S. Piedras Blancas: transformación y construcción del espacio. Investigación arqueológica en la cuenca alta de la quebrada Piedras Blancas. Informe de prospección. Bol Antropol. 1997;11(27):124-167. doi:10.17533/udea.boan.338722.
Degree dissertation on the context of petroglyphs. The link leads to the documentary record; a downloadable text has not been confirmed.
ResearchAvailability to be checked
Reference and review
Alzate Franco N, Osorio Guzmán CJ. Aproximación a una contextualización histórica y cultural de los petroglifos del Valle de Aburrá [degree dissertation]. Medellín: Universidad de Antioquia; 2009.
Research proposal combining pottery, lithic materials, environmental evidence and analyses of visibility and routes.
ResearchBibliographic record
Reference and review
Campuzano Usma JA. Propuesta de plan de manejo arqueológico con énfasis en el componente de investigación multi-proxy para el Cerro Quitasol, municipio de Bello-Antioquia [degree dissertation on the Internet]. Medellín: Universidad de Antioquia; 2022.
Mauricio Obregón Cardona’s dissertation on social differentiation, uses of space and formation processes at two Late-period dwelling places.
ResearchBibliographic record
Reference and review
Obregón Cardona M. Arqueología del ámbito doméstico en los Andes noroccidentales: diferenciación social, usos del espacio y procesos de formación en dos lugares de habitación tardíos del Valle de Aburrá, Colombia [Master’s dissertation on the Internet]. México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; [date unknown].
Assessment recording the San Pedro–Quitasol–Niquía path and contrasting interpretations of its construction.
ResearchBibliographic record
Reference and review
Montoya Agudelo S. DRMI Quitasol–La Holanda: diagnóstico arqueológico [Internet]. Medellín: CORANTIOQUIA; Politécnico Colombiano Jaime Isaza Cadavid; 2023 [cited 2026 Sep 27]. p. 6, 22, 40–42. Synthesis consulted for the studies by Ospina (1999), Botero (2007) and Aristizábal (2021); the three original reports were not consulted here.
Access check: . Author and cover date checked in the consulted copy: Santiago Montoya Agudelo, 2023. Indirectly cited studies and dating limitations are distinguished; the institutional PDF may have access problems.
Presents objects and contexts recovered through preventive archaeology in Envigado, Medellín and Itagüí. Its dates are starting points that should be checked against primary technical reports.
Supplementary resourceOnline consultationPreventive archaeologyPublic communication
Reference and review
Museo Comunitario Virtual Graciliano Arcila Vélez [Internet].
Current layers and visualisations of rainfall, hydrology, environmental quality and metropolitan territory. Helps readers understand topography and water as dynamic conditions of settlement.
Supplementary resourceAvailability to be checkedHydrologyEnvironment
Julián de Jesús Pérez Ríos’s review of Sofía Botero Páez’s book on the ancient path network of the Aburrá Valley. It points to the original research and its interpretive problems.
Supplementary resourceText available
Reference and review
Pérez Ríos JJ. Caminos antiguos en el Valle de Aburrá: cuando el bosque no deja ver los árboles. Bol Antropol. 2011;24(41):484-488. doi: 10.17533/udea.boan.7991.
Access check: . Review with a linked PDF. The record gives digital publication in 2011 and volume 24(41), labelled 2010; the catalogue’s citation year is retained. The metadata discrepancy is noted in Credits.
Pollen, phytoliths, starches and lithic materials used to investigate forest transformation and human occupation in the Porce basin.
ResearchText available
Reference and review
Cardona Velásquez LC, Monsalve Marín CA. Evidencias paleoecológicas del manejo del bosque subandino. Ocupaciones humanas durante el Holoceno en la cuenca media del río Porce (Antioquia, Colombia). Boletín de Antropología. 2009;23(40). doi:10.17533/udea.boan.6482.
Funerary contexts and territoriality in the Middle Porce between the first and fourteenth centuries CE.
ResearchText available
Reference and review
Cardona Velásquez LC, Montoya Agudelo S. Prácticas funerarias prehispánicas como expresiones territoriales en el Porce Medio (Antioquia, Colombia) durante el periodo de los desarrollos regionales de los siglos I a XIV d. C. Boletín de Antropología. 2008;22(39):250-270. doi:10.17533/udea.boan.6707.
Preventive archaeological findings on burial diversity, stone-lined tombs and funerary structures.
ResearchText available
Reference and review
Botero Arcila SH, Muñoz DP, Ortiz Cano A. Nuevos datos sobre patrones funerarios en el cañón del río Cauca al noroccidente de Colombia. Boletín de Antropología. 2011;25(42):203-230. doi:10.17533/udea.boan.11231.
Archaeological and geographical report on earthworks associated with water, agriculture and landscape transformation.
ResearchBibliographic record
Reference and review
Posada Restrepo W, Cadena Duarte B, González Severiche C, Arroyave Flórez E. El sistema de canales y camellones prehispánico del golfo de Urabá, noroccidente de Colombia: un reporte arqueológico y geográfico preliminar [Internet]. 2019.
Report on archaeological intervention and material classification in areas associated with petroglyphs. ICANH archive ARQ-7118.
ResearchText available
Reference and review
Gómez García AN. Intervención arqueológica en el área de mayor concentración de petroglifos: en el municipio de Tamesís, Antioquia [report on the Internet]. 2024.
Research on Antioquia’s paths, historical sources and surviving material traces.
ResearchAvailability to be checked
Reference and review
Botero Páez S. Caminos ásperos y fragosos para los caballos: apuntes para la historia de los caminos en Antioquia. Medellín: CODI-CISH, Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de Antioquia; 2005. ISBN 958-655-851-7.
Academic archive of the Universidad de Antioquia. It allows readers to follow debates, sequences and changing interpretations in regional archaeology, including work on the Aburrá Valley and Piedras Blancas.
Academic journalAvailability to be checkedSocial changeMethods
Presents the Universidad de Antioquia’s archaeological, ethnographic and funerary collections and its reference laboratory. Important for comparing objects, provenances and regional categories.
Regional record of rock surfaces, orientation, motifs and landscape associations. Useful for comparing techniques and spatial relationships without transferring meanings from one site to another.
Dating report and discussion of mummification practices. ICANH archive ARQ-7123.
ResearchText available
Reference and review
Jaimes Baquero AM. Estudio de datación por radiocarbono: de la momia No. 3 de la colección del Museo de Arqueología e Historia Natural de Pasca, Jaime Hincapíe Santa María [report on the Internet]. 2025.
Institutional repository of archaeological reports. Search by title, author, subject and geographical coverage; check each record for file availability and access conditions.
Catalogue and repositorySearchable catalogueReportsPreventive archaeology
Catalogue of monographs, reports and studies on Colombian archaeology and heritage. Specialist publications help broaden chronological, technological and regional frameworks.
Catalogue and repositorySearchable catalogueResearchOpen access
Peer-reviewed articles on archaeological research, conservation, public engagement and preventive archaeology. Offers recent Colombian studies and persistent DOI identifiers.
Extends comparison to economy, territoriality, Indigenous peoples, multispecies relationships and identity formation. Raises social questions that material evidence alone cannot resolve.
A journey through several millennia of occupation in the Middle Cauca. Distinguishes periods and societies, avoiding automatic use of ‘Quimbaya’ for every object from the region.
Georeferenced dataset with identification, municipality and documentary references for more than twenty thousand records. Supports spatial analysis, while coverage depends on the sources included and does not exhaust Colombia’s archaeological record.
Supplementary resourceAvailability to be checkedSpatial distributionOpen data
Object catalogue recording material, form, function, region, chronology and registration number. Supports formal comparison, but a museum record does not replace excavation context.
Official cartography, digital models, orthoimagery, hydrography, soils and historical layers. Allows proportions and metadata to be checked before producing interpretive maps.
Presents collections and research on the history of life in Colombia, including gomphotheres and other vertebrates. Helps distinguish palaeontological evidence from archaeological association.
Biological records, species accounts and datasets for checking the distribution, habitat and taxonomy of present-day fauna and flora used as environmental references.
Monumental funerary architecture, geometric painting and relationships between houses for the living and spaces for the dead. Offers a documented Andean comparison, not a direct model for El Volador.
Funerary complexes, sculptures and monumental landscape in the Upper Magdalena. Useful for comparing labour investment, memory, spatial relationships and iconographic diversity.
Brings together paintings, landscape and contemporary memories through the work of Fernando Urbina and the Museo del Oro. Invites readers to treat rock art as a living relationship, not simply an inventory of motifs.
Supplementary resourceAvailability to be checkedRock artMemory
Reference and review
La Lindosa: arte rupestre y memoria viva [Internet].
Independent compilation of articles, inventories and methodological debates on Colombian rock art. A useful starting point, to be checked against original reports and publications.
Analysis of human remains and the formation of funerary contexts in La Pampa.
ResearchText available
Reference and review
Fernández M, Tapia AH, Rizzo F. Los restos humanos del sitio arqueológico San Enrique (Loventué, La Pampa, Argentina). Agentes tafonómicos y prácticas mortuorias. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP. 2026;(38):27-58. doi:10.18800/boletindearqueologiapucp.202601.002.
Official destination indicated by the former Mediateca for accessing INAH’s documentary heritage. Includes resources on Mexico’s pre-Hispanic sites; the new portal’s availability requires checking.
Catalogue and repositoryAvailability to be checkedDigital archiveSites
Reference and review
Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. Repositorio Institucional del INAH [Internet].
Academic forum for research on the Andes, materiality, settlements, bioarchaeology and theory. Brings local models into dialogue with other South American trajectories.
Open research in archaeology, bioanthropology, ecology, geography, semiotics and heritage. Its breadth enables comparison of social change with biological and environmental evidence.
Publishes archaeology, ethnohistory and visual culture of Latin America. Combines field studies, theory and methods; some content may require institutional access.
Network of paths and associated structures built on accumulated knowledge across six Andean countries. Provides comparative concepts for studying engineering, exchange and route reuse.
Early case of monumental architecture and settlement organisation in the central Andes. Supports discussion of cooperation, specialisation and labour at different scales without assuming a single path towards complexity.
Architecture, technology and a symbolic programme integrated in an Andean ceremonial centre. Useful for asking how images, routes and built spaces participate in social relations.
Catalogues and resources on many American societies, emphasising form, material, sound and image. Supports iconographic comparison with explicit provenance and chronology.
Supplementary resourceAvailability to be checkedPre-Hispanic artCollections
Explores the peopling of the Americas, Mesoamerican societies and diverse material cultures. A comparative gateway to animals, food, symbols and architecture.
Objects, photographic archives and field records from Mesoamerica, the Andes and the Intermediate Area. Valuable for formal comparison, with close attention to provenance and collection conditions.
Supplementary resourceAvailability to be checkedIconographyArchives
Community-contributed pollen, phytolith, macrofossil, charcoal, vertebrate, chronological and other proxy data. Enables exploration of South American records and inspection of dataset metadata.
Supplementary resourceAvailability to be checkedPalaeoenvironmentOpen data
Fossils, genetics, tools, behaviour and dating methods within an updated evolutionary framework. A teaching reference for distinguishing evidence, inference and scientific revision.
International network reconstructing past environmental changes and relating them to human systems. Offers working groups, syntheses and resources for comparing timescales.
Supplementary resourceAvailability to be checkedPalaeoclimateInterdisciplinary research
Combine the site or municipality name with Spanish search terms such as arqueología (archaeology), excavación (excavation), informe (report) or tesis (dissertation). Try spellings without accents and, for Brazil, arqueologia. Check the author, study date, institution and access conditions for each result.
External links open in a new tab. A catalogue may contain both openly accessible documents and records without downloadable text.
Reading guidelines
How to use this repository
01
Comparison does not establish identity
A similar form, path or burial may suggest a hypothesis; by itself, it does not demonstrate relatedness, contemporaneity or a shared culture.
02
Return to the primary source
Museum records and public-facing pages offer guidance. Dates and associations must be supported through reports, articles, laboratory codes and stratigraphy.
03
Check scale and metadata
Every map, photograph and dataset has a date, coverage, resolution and conditions of use. Those limits form part of the evidence.
Catalogue review: 10 September 2026. Each record states the date and scope of its access check. ‘Text available’ means that the source offers the document; ‘Bibliographic record’ does not guarantee a download. When a portal prevents access verification, this is stated explicitly; it does not mean that the site has closed. Curation checks relevance and metadata, not the entirety of each study. External sites may change, and inclusion does not imply agreement with all their interpretations.
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