Inside this ‘Andean Easter Island,’ these volcanic statues are the rock stars

In one of South America’s most enigmatic corners, ancient crocodiles, anthropomorphic birds, and two-headed dieties keep court in misty forests. Archaeologists have found some 600 of these volcanic rock statues buried in a string of mounds near the town of San Agustín in southern Colombia. Once unearthed, these mysterious artworks, carved between the first and eighth centuries A.D., can stand as tall as 14 feet.

This is the largest group of religious, megalithic sculptures in South America, akin to an Andean Easter Island. Yet, until recently, thanks to the nation’s long history of armed conflict, very few tourists ventured here to the eastern slopes of the Colombian Massif to visit them. 

But new hotels, improved roads, and peace-fueled prosperity have all spurred a spike in tourism to this area. “Twenty years ago, we had about 30 lodging options here; now, there are more than a hundred,” says Jorge Peña of Ivantours Colombia, a tour company based in Huila, the Colombian department (similar to a U.S. state) where the statues are located.

“Day by day, a lot more people are coming,”  he says. “The sites really make the imagination fly—you feel like you’ve just opened a storybook.” Here’s how to see the enigmatic statues, plus how to explore the biodiverse, beautiful countryside around them. 

The mysterious ‘Sculptor People’

Surprisingly little is known about the people who created these burial mounds, who are alternatively called the Cultura del Alto Magdalena (Upper Magdalena Culture) or the Pueblo Escultor (Sculptor People). “The big mystery is why these sculptors disappeared [in the ninth century],” explains archaeologist Hernán Ordoñez, who grew up in San Agustín. “Did something happen to the climate? Were there volcanic eruptions? Was it contact—or conflict—with other pre-Hispanic cultures? So far, it’s not clear.”

What we do know is that the megalithic sculptures were artistic manifestations “made with the intention of almost ideological dominance,” says Ordoñez. They were meant to transcend life—perhaps acting as protectors of the living—and include iconographic features making them resemble reptiles, felines, monkeys, and other creatures native to the area. Most of the figures were carved in sitting positions and included embedded messages offering clues about ancient shamanic practices.

The first scientific excavations took place here in the 1910s, though 17th-century tomb raiders had already plundered many sites for golden funerary artifacts. The archaeological parks date to 1931; they were named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995. 

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Though large-scale scientific excavations mostly took place between the 1960s and 1990s, newer studies, conducted by the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History between 2016 to 2022 using remote sensor technologies, are expected to shed new light on the culture over the coming years.

Visiting the archaeological parks

Roughly 600 statues lie near the town of San Agustín on the eastern slopes of the Colombian Massif. The Magdalena River, Colombia’s chief waterway, has its headwaters here. The river flows east through a sharp-hewn canyon, dividing the three associated archaeological parks where the statues seem to watch over elaborate tombs with portal-like dolmens and carved stone sarcophagi.

The San Agustín Archaeological Park, on the western edge of its namesake town, is the largest of the trio, home to a small museum and a winding forest trail that doubles as an open-air exhibit of statues found elsewhere. The park also contains exposed burial mounds poking above manicured lawns and a sprawling monument carved into the stone bed of a trickling stream.

Many visitors spend their first morning here, before setting off on horseback or 4x4 in the afternoon to sites north of town. These include La Chaquira, where figures hewn into boulders line a canyon-top boardwalk (completely rebuilt in 2023), and El Purutal, which is home to two colorful sculptures showing what others looked like when they, too, were painted in vivid hues.

Across the Magdalena River, which has the tint of over-steeped tea, lies Isnos Municipality, home to the smaller Alto de las Piedras and Alto de los Ídolos archaeological parks. The former has a rare statue with two faces stacked on top of each other (akin to a North American Indigenous totem pole), known as Doble-Yo, while the latter has some of the most elaborate tombs, likely reserved for elite members of society. New dining facilities, pathways, and bathrooms were built at Alto de los Ídolos in 2021.

A region reemerges

The parks are a highlight of the forested Huila department. The region was once considered dangerous due to the activities of Marxist-inspired Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC. But a 2016 peace deal saw FARC agree to lay down arms and integrate into the Colombian state. Now, with the conflict largely in the past, communities have opened up to ecotourism and improved regional infrastructure.

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The most recent place to become slightly more accessible to visitors? The remote village of Puerto Quinchana, 90 minutes west of San Agustín (on rough roads), which was once cut off to outsiders during the armed conflict as a corridor for drug-smuggling. Now, it welcomes visitors to archaeological sites like La Gaitana, which holds some of the least studied Alto Magdalena ruins.

“Tourism here has grown exponentially over the last five years,” says Doris Alima Hoyos, a social leader helping the community to reintegrate into the Colombian economy. “They’ve been stuck in a sandwich between armed forces for decades, but now, they think they might be able to live off of tourism.”

The pass between San Agustín and Popayán—the nearest major city, known for its whitewashed Spanish colonial buildings—was a longtime conflict zone as well. Now, aside from one remaining military checkpoint, it’s been disarmed. When fully paved in about three years’ time, the road will link the two destinations in about 2.5 hours (the current journey can take up to five), further easing access to these remote hills and their ancient treasures.