Calima

Calima is the archaeological name for a succession of pre-Columbian societies in the river valleys of the Valle del Cauca in western Colombia, where settled farming began with the Ilama culture around 1500 BCE.

The Ilama were followed by the Yotoco, who expanded toward the Cauca River and modern Cali, developed polychrome pottery and hammered goldwork, and lasted until about 1200 CE.

The Sonso culture then flourished from roughly 800 to 1600, with more centralized chiefdoms and cast gold-and-copper work, and Sonso communities still lived there when Spanish expeditions arrived. The label Calima itself comes from the area where their tombs, terraces and ceramics were excavated, not from any people known by that name.