San Agustin Alto de los Idolos

1.8650°N, 76.3130°W.

San Agustín Alto de los Ídolos in the San Agustín Archaeological Park in Huila Department, southwestern Colombia — the largest single funerary mound complex of the San Agustín culture, occupied approximately 100–900 CE. Original mound base approximately 100 by 80 metres; original height around 8 metres in a stepped earthen platform covering an elaborate sequence of stone-built dolmen tombs, sarcophagi, and standing statues — the densest concentration of San Agustín monumental sculpture preserved at any single site. The complex contains more than 30 carved stone statues including the largest known San Agustín monolith at 7 metres tall. Excavated by Konrad Theodor Preuss in 1913–1914 and continuously by Colombian missions through the twentieth century, with major restoration in the 1990s. The site is named for the alto (the high place) of the idols, a colonial-era reference to the visible standing statues that were already partially exposed when Spanish chroniclers first reported the area in the eighteenth century. UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995.

The largest single concentration of pre-Hispanic monumental sculpture in Colombia, on a mound named for what the Spanish saw sticking out of the ground when they arrived.