Between the eighth and sixteenth centuries, the altiplano (high plain) around what is present-day Bogota was the home of a decentralized and linguistically diverse group of people we now collectively call the Muisca. Muisca caciques (rulers) presided over a wide variety of valuable materials—including textiles, metals, precious stones, tobacco, coca, and beeswax—and officiated at collective offering rituals. Tunjos (votive figures made of tumbaga and cast using the lost-wax method) are essential components of offerings, often buried or deposited inside ceramic containers alongside other materials, such as stone beads and emeralds.