Ciudad Perdida

Ciudad Perdida (Spanish for "lost city"; also known as Teyuna and Buritaca-200) is the archaeological site of an ancient city in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta of Colombia, within the jurisdiction of the municipality of Santa Marta. This city is believed to have been founded about 800 AD. If so, Ciudad Perdida predates Machu Picchu by about 650 years. It was built by the Tairona.

Ciudad Perdida consists of a series of 169 terraces carved into the mountainside, a network of tiled roads, and several small circular plazas. The entrance can be accessed only by climbing up 1,200 stone steps through dense jungle.

Modern discovery

Ciudad Perdida was discovered in 1972 by Los Sepúlvedas, a group of local treasure looters.

Los Sepúlvedas were a small family of looters living in Colombia. The family often went hunting in the forests, and one day they shot a "pava" presumably a Band-tailed Guan. While retrieving the bird, they noticed it had fallen on a series of stone steps rising up the mountainside. They climbed up the stone steps and discovered an abandoned city, which they named "Green Hell" or "Wide Set". After the murder of one of the Sepúlveda sons at the site of Ciudad Perdida, fights broke out among the looters.

Soon after, gold figures and ceramic urns from Ciudad Perdida began to appear on the local black market.

Although La Ciudad Perdida is an impressive site, it is not the only one of its kind. Only about 30–40% of the sites in the Sierra Nevada region have been explored. However, thanks to recent widespread lidar access, more and more of these sites are being discovered.

Members of local tribes – notably the Kogi people – have stated that they visited the site of Ciudad Perdida regularly before it was widely reported, but had kept quiet about it. They call the city "Teyuna" and believe it was the heart of a network of villages inhabited by their forebears, the Tairona.

History

thumb|Boulder with carved markings, believed to be a map of Ciudad Perdida and paths connecting it to the larger area

Built around ,

On 15 September 2003, the ELN kidnapped eight foreign tourists visiting Ciudad Perdida, demanding a government investigation into human rights abuses in exchange for their hostages. The ELN released the last of the hostages three months later. The AUC continued attacking indigenous and non-indigenous individuals in the zone. In 2006, after a demobilization treaty, the damage done by the Colombian paramilitary group amounted to 8000 direct victims, around 274 violent deaths, and 1000 indirect victims.

In 2005, tourist hikes became operational again and there have been no problems since then. The Colombian Army actively patrols the area, which is now deemed to be safe for visitors, and there have not been any more kidnappings.

Since 2009, the non-profit organization Global Heritage Fund (GHF) has been working in Ciudad Perdida to preserve and protect the historic site against climate, vegetation, neglect, looting, and unsustainable tourism. GHF's stated goals include the development and implementation of a regional management plan, documentation and conservation of the archaeological features at Ciudad Perdida, and engagement of the local indigenous communities as major stakeholders in the preservation and sustainable development of the site.

Gallery

File:View of Ciudad Perdida.jpg|Overview of Ciudad Perdida

File:Stone Stairway to Ciudad Perdida.jpg|Section of the stone staircase that leads up from the river valley to Ciudad Perdida

File:Koguis Tribeswoman with Child.jpg|Portrait of a Koguis tribeswoman and child on a terrace at Ciudad Perdida

File:Koguis Shaman.jpg|Portrait of a Koguis shaman at Ciudad Perdida

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References

External links

archaeology.org