The Archaeological Park of San Augustin is filled with a huge number of ancient statues left over from a civilization that flourished from the 6th century BC. to the XII century. It is believed that it was the cultural center of various distinctive groups of peoples even before the arrival of the Incas.
Little is known about the people who carved statues and megalithic monuments, but everything suggests that it was a thriving civilization.
The park has over 500 statues and tombs scattered along both sides of the Rio Magdalena Gorge. These statues depict strange creatures, gods and people, they guard ancient tombs and burial chambers or offer sacrifices to the gods in the form of gold or pottery and children.
To date, over 500 giant sculptures of people, gods and animals have been found in the Valley of Statues. They are scattered in more than 20 places in a wooded, completely overgrown with orchids valley of the Magdalena River.
The figures hewn from stone look gloomy and detached against the background of this landscape. The sculptures of gods and mythological characters are made in different styles and date back to different centuries. Some are 6 meters high.
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Since the Spanish monk Fray Juan de Santa Gertrudis first reported these giants in 1794, historians and archaeologists have speculated about their origins and ages.
Some believe that they originated in the 6th century BC. e., others lean towards later dating, attributing these works to a culture destroyed by the Incas shortly before the Spanish conquest, They have a certain similarity with the famous stone idols from Easter Island.
Archaeologists distinguish three types of San Agustin burials: wooden sarcophagi, burial mounds, and megalithic underground tombs.
High burial mounds cover the tombs made of massive, slightly hewn stone slabs, in which there were sarcophagi cut out of solid stone. The rest of the dead is protected by stone statues at the entrance.
The walls of many crypts are covered with polychrome geometric patterns. The mythical themes of the wall paintings are reminiscent of the picturesque decorations of the temple buildings of the pre-Incan culture of Mochica.