Tierradentro

The Archaeological Park of Tierradentro (Spanish: Parque Nacional de Archaeological Tierradentro ) in the Cordillera Central in the south of Colombia is crossed by numerous subterranean grave facilities that are unique in South America due to their size and the stair access. Above ground there are several stone-carved figures. The United Nations declared the archaeological park Tierradentro 1995 on the World Heritage List.

The grave chambers and figures will probably go on Tierradentro culture back, a farming culture with a highly developed cult of the dead. Little is known about the culture. Characteristic are the five feet deep driven into the rock shaft graves. These underground facilities were used for the storage of urns. The walls of the best preserved chambers are painted with geometric designs in white, black and red. In the side niches of the grave chambers up to 100 urns were found. Some of the ceramic urns hid gold jewelry, which suggests grave goods. However, these were largely lost through looting. However, the skull and bones to show that there was no uniform burial customs.