Ancient Stone Statues at San Agustín

  

Whose statues?

San Agustín in south Colombia  is very well known for its pre-Columbian archeological sites:

 the ancient stone statues at San Agustín are among the most mysterious pre-Columbian archeological artifacts. So far archeologists have discovered 40 large burial mounds containing 600 likenesses of mythical animals, gods and chieftains in what is South America’s largest complex of megalithic statues. Like other sites in the region, San Agustín has suffered plunder, both organized and freelance. Konrad Preuss, a German anthropologist who led the first European excavations there, shipped 35 statues that he found to a museum in Berlin, where they remain.  This history has made the local inhabitants, who live from tourist visits to the site, suspicious. So it proved with a plan by the national museum to take 20 of the statues to the capital, Bogotá, a ten-hour drive away, for a three-month exhibition to mark the centenary of Preuss’s discovery of the site. Read more.