The name Tierradentro, which means ‘inland’ in Spanish, evokes the intimacy of the territory deep in the Andes mountain range and its most remote landscapes. In this region, with its exceptional landscape of mountains peaking at over 4,000 metres above sea level, people have been evolving for around 3,000 years.
The Tierradentro archaeological park is home to a collection of archaeological remains that include movable objects, ceramics, stone tools, monumental sculptures and the extraordinary hypogeums, underground cavities dug into the volcanic soil to house a tomb. The park has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995.
The magnificent tombs of Tierradentro
As soon as you enter these underground tombs, you are transported to a spiritual world where death has a predominant place. The architectural and stylistic wealth is astonishing! Situated on artificially flattened mountain peaks, these hypogeums can only be reached after descending several very high steps. The dead were buried with their personal effects in a primary tomb. After a time, they were exhumed, the bones burnt and stored in an urn, then placed in the hypogeum.
The civilisation of Tierradentro
No traces of writing have been found either in the tombs or in the surrounding sites. At the time of the arrival of the Spanish, this area was inhabited by almost a dozen indigenous cultures, but the only survivors of the Spanish massacre are the Paez natives. They claim not to be responsible for the magnificent remains at Tierradentro. In any case, the tombs have been dated to between the 1st and 9th centuries AD. So this is a mysterious civilisation about which very little is known. Who were they? Why did they disappear?
Tomb decoration
The decoration on the sites consists mainly of geometric motifs and human forms sculpted in high and low relief with triangular faces. These are the guardians of the tombs. The predominant colours are black and red, and these were certainly chosen as synonyms for life and death. There are also drawings of animals such as the jaguar (symbolising the strength and power of the sun), the snake (symbolising the cycle of existence, life and death and sexuality), the lizard (symbolising the male sex, fertility and the transformation of life) and the centipede (symbolising the female sex and procreation).
This is an incredible archaeological site with breathtaking landscapes. It is not to be missed if you are in the vicinity of San Agustin and Popayan.
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