Magnificent Monoliths: The Enigmatic Idols of San Agustin

by Richard Quinn | Jul 13, 2023 | Archaeology, South America, Travel

The San Agustin Archaeological Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Huila Department of Southwestern Colombia, a mountainous region near the headwaters of the Magdalena River. Within the park is the largest complex of funerary monuments and statuary on...

In the Vale of the Stone Monkeys: Peril and Petroglyphs in the Colombian Jungle

by Richard Quinn | Jul 8, 2021 | Archaeology, South America

Cartagena, Colombia is one of my all-time favorite cities. It has a gorgeous setting, on the shores of the Caribbean, and with the battered walls of the old town, and the Spanish forts with their rusty cannons still in place, it has a swashbuckling history you can...

Tumaco: Snarling Beasts and Raging Demons

by Richard Quinn | May 24, 2021 | Archaeology

Through the course of this series I’ve been referring to the Tumaco Culture as if it was a single, clearly defined native population, but that isn’t exactly the case.  The area inland from the Pacific coast, north and south of Colombia’s present day...

Tumaco: The Arhuaco Connection

by Richard Quinn | May 8, 2021 | Archaeology, Historic Photos, South America

When I was living in Colombia, in the early 1970’s, pre-Columbian artifacts were a commodity, a form of luxury goods for the amusement of wealthy travelers. The best hotels had jewelry stores right off their lobbies, featuring spectacular Colombian emeralds set in...

Tumaco: A Cultural Crossroads

by Richard Quinn | Apr 28, 2021 | Archaeology

The ancients of Tumaco created quite a comfortable home for themselves. Their villages were well organized and prosperous, spread across a wide valley at the foot of the Andes, in the place where the Mira River and its tributaries come together and meet the sea. They...

Tumaco: From Out of the Flood

by Richard Quinn | Apr 15, 2021 | Archaeology

The primary occupation of all early humans was the gathering of food. For most, it was a full time job, while others had it easier, but none of them ever advanced beyond the basics until they found a way to solve that basic problem, by creating a reliable, sustainable...

Tumaco: Atrocity Trumps Antiquity on the Coast of Colombia

by Richard Quinn | Apr 8, 2021 | Archaeology

Colombia is the only country on the South American Continent that touches both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. The northern, Atlantic coast is considered a part of the Caribbean, and it’s much as you might expect: white sand beaches and palm trees, an azure sea,...

Tairona Gold: The Curse of the Coiled Serpent

by Richard Quinn | Oct 8, 2020 | Archaeology, South America

October, 1971  The first time I saw Bahia Concha was in October of ’71, when my buddy Paul drove me out there in a borrowed Land Cruiser. He’d been talking about the place for as long as I’d known him; it was like his personal holy grail. A dig that...

Tairona Gold: The Rape of Bahia Concha

by Richard Quinn | Sep 11, 2020 | Archaeology, South America

Bahia Concha, “Shell Bay,” is a sheltered cove on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, located in the Tayrona National Park, just ten miles as the condor flies from the city of Santa Marta. It’s part of a protected ecological preserve where development...

Machu Picchu Sunrise

by Richard Quinn | Sep 6, 2020 | Archaeology, Historic Photos, Travel

Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas, is a 500 year old complex of ruins located deep in the Andes of south central Peru. In 1983, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in 2007, it was voted as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. In gaining...