The San Agustín Archaeological Park (Spanish: Parque Arqueológico de San Agustín) is a large area with ancient ruins near the town of San Agustín in the Huila Department of Colombia. The park has the largest group of religious monuments and large stone statues in Latin America and is considered the world’s largest burial site. These structures belong to the San Agustin culture and were recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. The exact dates when the statues were made are unknown, but they are thought to have been carved between 5 and 400 AD. The people who created the statues are still a mystery because the area has not been fully explored.
History
The statues were first written about by a Spanish monk named Fray Juan de Santa Gertrudis (1724–1799). He traveled to the countries of Colombia (then part of the New Kingdom of Granada), Ecuador, and Peru as a missionary between 1756 and 1757. During his journey, he passed through San Agustín in the middle of 1756. He described the statues in his four-part book titled Maravillas de la naturaleza (English: Wonders of Nature).
Geography
The San Agustín Archaeological Park is located in the upper part of the Magdalena River and its main branches, in the town of San Agustín, Huila, in the eastern slopes of the Colombian Massif. This area is where three Andean mountain ranges run from south to north across the Andean Region. San Agustín is 520 kilometers from Bogotá. The remains of ancient cultural groups are spread over an area larger than 50 square kilometers, on flat areas on both sides of the canyon formed by the top of the Magdalena River. The park is a small area with a high number of graves and more than 500 statues of unknown origin.
The park includes the following areas:
• The source of Lavapatas.
• The Plank.
• Alto de Lavapatas.
• Chaquira.
• Alto de las Piedras.
• High Idols.
In addition to the main park in San Agustín, there are two other separate sites: the Heights of the Idols (Alto de los Ídolos) and the Heights of the Stones (Alto de las Piedras). These are located in the municipality of Isnos, a few kilometers from San Agustín. The Heights of the Idols is 4 kilometers from the town of Isnos and has the tallest statue in all the parks, which is 7 meters tall. The Heights of the Stones is 7 kilometers from Isnos and includes the well-known "Double I" ("Doble Yo") statue.
Statues
The statues have both human-like and animal-like features, such as crocodiles, bats, and jaguars, and have short legs. About 300 statues were discovered. They were painted with bright colors, mostly yellow, red, black, and white, but most of them are no longer colored.
The statues differ in height, with the tallest reaching 23 feet (7.0 m). They are believed to be part of funeral ceremonies. In other parts of the archaeological site, where large burial mounds are found, there are more intimidating figures, such as snakes, frogs, and birds, placed to guard and protect during the afterlife. Statues of gods and carvings on the ground include both solar gods (male) and lunar gods (female). These figures and statues help researchers understand the civilization’s ideas about life and death.
Repatriation
In 1913, German expert Konrad Theodor Preuss led an archaeological excavation in a region on behalf of the Ethnological Museum of Berlin. He removed 21 smaller sculptures from the site and transported them to Berlin in 1919. These items were added to the museum's collection. In 2022, the Colombian government officially announced its request for the return of the statues from the Humboldt Forum, which is now the successor to the Ethnological Museum of Berlin.
Gallery
- Statue in Mesita A
- Statues in Mesita B
- Statue in Mesita C
- Alto de las Piedras
- Alto de las Piedras