, when the Tairona were forcibly integrated into the Spanish Encomienda system. The available Carbon-14 dates show that the coastal sites were occupied from perhaps as early as 200 BC, much earlier than those at higher elevations, including some of the largest centers, at above sea level. The coves and inlets on the Caribbean coast, like Chengue, Neguanje, Gayraca, Cinto and Buritaca, where villages have only more modest architecture, show the longest occupations, spanning the whole 1,800 years. Knowledge sources about the pre-Columbian Tairona civilization are limited to archaeological findings and a few written references from the Spanish colonial era. One of the first descriptions of the region was written by Pedro Martyr d' Anghiera and was published in 1530. The area also was described by other explorers who visited the region between 1505 and 1524. Anghiera portrays the Tairona valleys as densely populated, with extensive fields irrigated in the same way as those in Tuscany. Many villages were dedicated to fishing and traded their marine goods for the rest of their needs with those living inland. Anghiera describes how they aggressively repelled the Spanish when they attempted to take women and children as slaves in the first contacts. It appears that as a result, the first contacts with the Tairona were very violent and the Spanish suffered great losses, which resulted in a more diplomatic strategy from the first governor of Santa Marta, Rodrigo de Bastidas. Cities One of the best-known Tairona nucleated villages and archaeological sites is known as Ciudad Perdida (Spanish for "Lost City"). It was a major city, about 13 hectares (32 acres) in the "core". It was discovered by looters in 1975 but is now under the care of the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History. Recent studies suggest that it was inhabited by approximately 1,600 to 2,400 people that lived in at least 11,700 square meters (124,000 square feet) of roofed space, in about 184 round houses built on top of terraces paved with stone. There are many other sites of similar or greater size. A larger site, Pueblito, is located near the coast. According to Reichel-Dolmatoff's research, it contains at least 254 terraces and had a population of about 3,000 people. Archaeological studies in the area show that even larger nucleated villages existed towards the western slope of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, like Posiguieca and Ciudad Antigua. Smaller villages and hamlets