Enigmatic Andean sculptures intrigue visitors to Colombia

By Sinikka Tarvainen Aug 3, 2010, 13:09 GMT

San Agustin, Colombia - In a breathtaking Andean landscape, in a region where Colombian mountain ranges meet and rivers are born, a mysterious indigenous culture flourished millennia ago.

Little is known about the people who made the towering sculptures combining human and animal shapes at San Agustin in the south of the Latin American country.

However, their creativity fascinates both archaeologists and tourists looking for clues into an ancient culture which appears to have regarded life mainly as a prelude for death.

The picturesque village of San Agustin, with some 13,000 residents, lies in the embrace of green mountains in a region where the Andes split into three mountain ranges and where some of Colombia's main rivers, such as the Magdalena and the Cauca, have their sources.

The nearby archaeological sites hold more than 300 sculptures carved from monolithic blocks of volcanic rock, as well as over 60 tombs of people who were clearly high-ranking. About 130 of the statues stand inside the main archaeological park.

The sculptures were made between approximately 1000 BC and 800 AD. The people who created them are thought to have disappeared, possibly long before Spanish conquerors arrived in the 16th century.

The statues and tombs are located on grass-covered hills, the high altitudes of which were probably believed to allow the dead to rest close to the solar deity. The highest of the sculptures, some of which retain traces of the colours they were painted with, measure more than five metres.

Many represent human figures - possibly shamans in trance - wearing masks of animals such as jaguars, monkeys, eagles or frogs, which the artists undoubtedly regarded as having divine powers.

A figure believed to be a lunar and agricultural goddess holds the moon in her hands. A possible war god is depicted with a skull hanging from his neck. Some of the statues also represent pure animal forms, unmasked humans, or penis-shaped figures in a tribute to human fertility.

Many of the masked humans are placed inside tombs, flanked by two warriors which apparently helped them guard the dead. Some of the statues also stand alone or preside over dolmen temples.

The sculptures have reminded researchers of masked dances or jaguar cults that are still practised in Colombia's Amazon region, but there is no clear evidence linking the San Agustin culture with any modern-day ethnic group.

'We do not know who these people were, where they came from, and why they disappeared,' says guide Rosiberio Lopez Ibarra, 79, who has worked with some of the main archaeologists doing research into the San Agustin culture.

The statues' facial features often look African or Asian, prompting speculation that their makers may have crossed over by sea, or even over land in early times when the Earth still formed a single continent.

Some of the statues also wear headgear reminiscent of that of Egyptian pharaohs, or Indian-style turbans. 'Some of the artists portrayed African animals which do not exist here, such as elephants and gorillas,' Lopez Ibarra points out.

Feathered serpents, on the other hand, point to links with the Aztec and Maya cultures of Latin America.

The people living in San Agustin made their circular dwellings from perishable materials, but tried to create eternal tombs for their dead, who were placed in underground chambers often containing corridors formed by large stones.

Burial techniques ranged from monolithic stone coffins to jars containing bones, as well as incineration. The graves with their guardian statues were buried under hillocks, until they were discovered by adventurers looking for gold in the 18th century.

Unlike elsewhere in Colombia, however, the indigenous people living in San Agustin had no gold mines, and few golden objects have been found in local tombs.

Looters damaged many of the sculptures, which are now under the protection of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Foundation (UNESCO) as a World Heritage Site.

The sculptures were created with rough stone tools, and many visitors are less impressed by their artistic quality than by the world view they represented.

Women clearly occupied a central role in the San Agustin culture, as many of the statues represent possible goddesses, female shamans, queens or princesses. The main archaeological park even has a maternity temple where women may have prayed for healthy children.

The San Agustin people saw the universe as a duality divided between night and day, darkness and light, female and male, death and life.

One side of the cosmic equation could not exist without the other, as is shown by pairs of female and male sculptures, carvings such as double lines, or two-faced figures known as 'the double me.'

'These people were our cultural ancestors, who left us their wisdom,' said a visitor named Esperanza, aged about 60, who had come in from the capital Bogota. 'This is a magical place,' she added.