MUST SEE: CIUDAD PERDIDA (LOST CITY) COLUMBIA 🇨🇴
MUST SEE: CIUDAD PERDIDA
(LOST CITY) COLUMBIA 🇨🇴
Ciudad Perdida consists of a series of 169 terraces carved into the mountainside, a net of tiled roads and several small circular plazas.
Hidden deep in the jungle of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in northern Colombia sits an archeological site called Ciudad Perdida, the “Lost City”. Built by the Tairona people in 800AD predating Machu Pichu by over 600 years. The Ciudad Perdida archaeological site only became an attraction after it was uncovered in the 1970s.
Los Sepúlveda was a small family of looters in Colombia; their story leads to the beginning of one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in modern times. The family went hunting in the forests of Colombia when they shot down a wild turkey. Upon retrieving the turkey, they noticed it had fallen on a piece of an exposed staircase. This staircase would lead them to find La Ciudad Perdida. For years after its discovery by the looters, “Treasures from the site, including gold figures and ceramics, soon began to appear on the black market” Archeologists were alerted to these black market treasures and managed to, with the help of indigenous people who protect their ancestral site, trace themselves to the area in 1976. The area was researched and reconstructed over the next 6 years.
Although La Ciudad Perdida is one of the most impressive sites, it’s not alone, only about 30-40% of the sites in the Sierra Nevada region have actually been explored. Thanks to recent widespread access, more and more of these sites are being discovered, and the search for new lost cities has just begun.
Ciudad Perdida was probably the region’s political and manufacturing center on the Buritaca River and may have housed 2,000–8,000 people.
Named Teyuna by the Tairona but dubbed Ciudad Perdida upon rediscovery, the ancient wonder is perched on hillsides and tucked into a dense rainforest.
MUST SEE: 🇵🇫 Taputapuātea on Ra’iātea Island, French Polynesia
MUST SEE: 🇵🇫 Taputapuātea on Ra’iātea Island, French Polynesia
in 2017 UNESCO named Taputapuātea on Ra’iātea Island, French Polynesia a world heritage site for its outstanding universal value, exceptional testimony to 1,000 years of pre-colonial mā'ohi civilization, and central location in the 'Polynesian Triangle'. The 'points' on the Polynesian triangle are New Zealand, Hawaii, and Rapa Nui. Taputapuātea is in the very center of this triangle of oceanic islands. Both the cultural landscape and seascape on Ra’iātea make this a unique and remarkable place one must see. Taputapuātea is an area that goes from the mountains through forested valleys spanning across a portion of lagoon and coral reef and a strip of open ocean. In the center is the Marae of Taputapuātea.
The Marae of Taputapuātea is considered to be the most sacred pre-colonial Polynesian archeological sites in French Polynesia. UNESCO describes this site as:
"dedicated to the god ‘Oro and the place where the world of the living (Te Ao) intersects the world of the ancestors and gods (Te Po). It also expresses political power and relationships. The rise in the importance of Taputapuātea among the marae on Raiatea and in the wider region is linked to the line of Tamatoa ari’i (chiefs) and the expansion of their power. Taputapuātea was the centre of a political alliance that brought together two widespread regions encompassing most of Polynesia. The alliance was maintained by regular gatherings of chiefs, warriors and priests who came from the other islands to meet at Taputapuātea. The building of outrigger canoes and ocean navigation were key skills in maintaining this network.
A traditional landscape surrounds both sides of the Taputapuātea marae complex. The marae complex looks out to Te Ava Mo'a, a sacred pass in the reef that bounds the lagoon. Atāra motu is an islet in the reef and a habitat for seabirds. Ocean-going arrivals waited here before being led through the sacred pass and formally welcomed at Taputapuātea. On the landward side, ’Ōpo’a and Hotopu’u are forested valleys ringed by ridges and the sacred mountain of Tea’etapu. The upland portions of the valleys feature older marae, such as marae Vaeāra’i and marae Taumariari, agricultural terraces, archaeological traces of habitations and named features related to traditions of gods and ancestors. Vegetation in the valleys is a mix of species, some endemic to Raiatea, some common to other Polynesian islands and some imported food species brought by ancient Polynesians for cultivation. Together, the attributes of the property form an outstanding relict and associative cultural landscape and seascape."
Throughout Polynesia the Marae are communal or sacred sites in village life. In order to build a marae in another location, it is said that one must start with a stone from Taputapuātea. The marae are places with different functions. They are places where the world of the living intersected with the world of village ancestors and Polynesian gods. They are places where people gather for ceremony, dance, connecting with the past and with community.
This video is a product of the cumulative effort of cultural and historical groups presenting the significance of Taputapuātea in the past, the present, and for the future.
https://youtu.be/wXbJXHR8-3g?t=391
