Tierradentro National Archaeological Park

The Tierradentro National Archaeological Park is an archaeological reserve in Colombia, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1995, for being an important reservoir of pre-Columbian culture. It is located in the department of Cauca, near the municipalities of Belalcázar and Inzá.

The remains are especially concentrated around the town of San Andrés de Pisimbalá. The tombs are located in several places, the most representative is Segovia, which is a 20-minute walk from the museums. El Duende, located 600 m northeast of Segovia, San Andrés, located 1500 m north of the administrative headquarters, El Aguacate, on a ridge that is difficult to access and El Tablón, located 750 m northeast of San Andrés de Pisimbalá. The topography of the area is abrupt, it preserves a small proportion of primary vegetation and some wild animals. The archaeological remains include underground tombs or hypogeums, and stone statues, which within the park are grouped into five areas: Alto del Aguacate, Alto de San Andrés, Loma de Segovia, Alto del Duende and el Tablón. The park facilities have an archaeological museum and an ethnographic museum.

Tierradentro comprises an extensive area populated by hypogeums and statues. The most important archaeological sites in this park are Alto del Aguacate, Alto de San Andrés and Alto del Duende.

History

In a primary burial in Santa Rosa (Cauca), a charcoal sample was found that was dated 1630 AD. C. Another piece of charcoal contained in a funerary urn from a hypogeum was dated 1850 AD. c.

However, the technical recognition of the Tierradentro archaeological zone and public knowledge of the pre-Hispanic relics found there began in 1936, a time in which the governor of the department of Cauca, Alfredo Navia, after having had the opportunity to visit the region, he sent geologist Georg Burg, professor at the University of Cauca, to carry out a detailed study of the area.

One of the initial tasks of the researcher Burg was the recognition of the main archaeological sites known to the peasants and indigenous people of the region, especially the tombs located on the hills of Segovia and San Andrés and the stone statues of the place called El Plank.

Subsequently he made several trips through the territory, in which he managed to locate a large number of tombs and learned about ceramic and stone industry objects from various sites. He also raised the geological map of Tierradentro. He traveled along the course of the Ullucos River, the places of Suin and Chinas, Vitoncó, Loma Alta and the Malvasá and Negro de Narvaéz rivers.

During his travels he discovered some statues, recognized many tombs and excavated several, while collecting valuable collections of ceramics and stone industry. The main center of his excavations was located in San Andrés de Pisimbalá, where he began work in May 1936, sponsored by the University of Cauca.

Alongside his geological studies and archaeological excavations, Burg built sheds to protect the excavated tombs and had those that were explored in previous times by treasure seekers cleaned. He also began the construction of trails and other access roads to the sites where the monuments he recognized are located. He reported on all these works to the University of Cauca and the Departmental Government.

In June of the same year, the Ministry of National Education commissioned archaeologist Gregorio Hernández de Alba to review the work carried out by Burg and to continue the excavations in this archaeological area. After several reconnaissance trips, Hernández de Alba began explorations in several sites in Tierradentro, which began the systematic study of pre-Hispanic monuments.

The sites visited and studied by this researcher were the following: San Andrés de Pisimbalá, Alto del Grillo, El Aguacate, El Tablón, Vivorá, El Rodeo, Pedregal, Las Tapias, Topa, La Plata, Ricaurte, Cohetando, Belalcázar, Calderas, Avirama Viejo, Togoima, Santa Rosa, El Hato, El Marne and others.

Archaeology

After San Agustín, the Tierradentro Archaeological Park occupies a very prominent place in Colombian archeology in relation to the monumental nature of the relics preserved there.

The archaeological monuments are located in a triangular mountainous node, with extremely rugged terrain, and whose vertex is the Huila snow-capped peak, next to the moors of Las Casitas, Moras, El Brujo, Las Delicias and Guanacas.

The territory has a good part of its extension in the temperate thermal floor (18 to 20 °C) and is crossed from north to south by the Páez River, which constitutes, with the Ullucos and the San Andrés ravine, the main access route to the region.

The geological constitution of the terrain in this area and the torrential nature of the water currents that drain it have determined a very notable erosive action in the territory, causing the formation of deep canyons and narrow valleys over which they fall in a abrupt the slopes of the hills that surround them.

The terraces of alluvial origin have been, throughout time, the places chosen for human habitation, while the necropolises are located on the tops of hills, in places that are difficult to access and generally eminent.

The archaeological relics of Tierradentro are made up of stone statues, sumptuous underground temples carved in the living rock and profusely decorated with paint of various colors with generally geometric motifs, ceramics and other objects found in the tombs next to the corpses. The main sites where the monuments are located are the following: San Andrés, El Hato, El Marne, El Rodeo, El Tablón, Segovia, Loma Alta, Belalcázar, Alto del Grillo and others.

The municipality of Inzá and particularly its San Andrés district, constitute the region where the most notable relics are located and where the commissions of technicians who have been in charge of the study of this archaeological culture have had their seats.

The hypogeums or monumental collective tombs with underground chambers reproduce the interior of homes where secondary burials of exhumed bones were carried out, in urns. Its walls are decorated with anthropomorphic, geometric and zoomorphic designs of lizards, snakes and centipedes in red, black and white.

It is also known that the builders of these hypogeums carried out primary burials, for which they excavated shallow pit tombs with a small side chamber, where they placed objects such as metals, grinding hands, necklaces and ceramic vessels. The tombs and hypogeums are grouped in cemeteries, located on tops of hills flattened for this purpose or on the edges of mountains, near places of residence.

Other recognitions

In 2007 it was chosen as one of the 7 Wonders of Colombia, coming in sixth place. In 2008 the publication Viajes & Aventuraand its readers chose this archaeological park as the fourth Archaeological Wonder of Colombia. Firstly, the Lost City of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta was chosen as the Archaeological Wonder of Colombia par excellence.