Colombia has several interesting sights from a historical and acheological point of view. Two archaeological parks are located in the mountains near Neiva, called Tierradentro and San Agustin. A third archeological site is located in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and it is one of the most famous tourist attractions of Colombia: La Ciudad Perdida (The Lost City).
Grave Tombs of Tierradentro
Tierradentro is located in western Colombia and is a major archaeological park. This park has lots to see. Because of the important insight the park has given us about the history of Colombia, it was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1995. If you are at all interested in archeology and the history of Colombia, the is a place you must visit. After a long and adventurous ride you will arrive in the quiet indigenous town of San Andres de Pisimbala, where the Archaeological Park of Tierradentro lies. You can easily spend several days at five different sites with tombs there are to visit. These tombs were built about 1300 years ago and rediscovered and excavated between 1930 and 1995. Unfortunately many had been damaged and looted by grave robbers. It is a unique and overwhelming experience to descend up tosix meters into a cold, dark, damp tomb where 1300 year old murals can be observed. This ability to come so close to the ancient civilizations is truly unique. The village of San Andrés is situated between the mountains and is the perfect base to visit everything. It is a relatively small place but there are a number of options for accommodation and quite a few restaurants and bars. All in all this is both an interesting and entertaining place to visit.Read More
Ancient statues of San Agustin
Another archeological destination of Colombia is San Agustin. San Agustin is home to the largest group of religious monuments in South America. These are spread out over a park in a wild and spectacular scenery. It is one of the most important archaeological sites in Colombia, and also in all of South America. Unlike the quaint mountain town of San Andres, the village of San Agustin has expanded rapidly under the influence of money and investment in the tourism industy. As a result, it has grown into a city with 30.000 inhabitants and a great number of tourist offices, tour operators, hostels, hotels, restaurants and other facilities for tourism. Finding accommodation here is not difficult, and you can quickly set off to the most important archaeological site. The oldest finds date back to 3000 BC and continued right up to the era of Spanish conquest. Like the findings of Tierradentro, these are also burial sites. The difference is that no tombs were discovered, but many statues and small grave temples carved from the rocks. The remarkable thing is that many graves were protected by guards carved in stone. In this region more than 500 rock statues have been discovered of which some are over seven meters high. The relationship of the statues with the landscape and the surrounding area is amazing. In one place the statues are carved into a cliff with a view over an entire valley, like an outlook post. The grave temples are often located on the top of a mountain, and it takes considerable effort to reach all the archeological sites in this park. But it is definately worth the effort.Read More