The San Agustín monumental sculpture investigations

Record summary

Mid-century surveys and excavations at San Agustín documented dense clusters of monumental stone sculpture, tombs and earthworks in Colombia’s Alto Magdalena. The statues’ hybrid forms and uncertain iconographic references led to descriptions of a vanished or mysterious civilization, while archaeological research relates them to regional mortuary and ceremonial traditions. The lead matters for comparing stylistic interpretation, landscape archaeology and radiocarbon chronology. The identities of depicted beings, political organization and connections among sites remain debated rather than solved by a single cultural label.