PEOPLE AND GOLD IN THE HIGH MAGDALENA
In the highlands of San Agustin and the Valley of La Plata, in the headwaters of the Magdalena River, from 1000 BC small Formative societies saw the emergence of social hierarchies. In the Regional Classic, between 1 and 900 AD, the range and power religious leaders marched in building funerary monuments of stone statues carved in tuff volcanic. Although the use and accumulation of gold ornaments were not common among these leaders, some were buried with grave goods containing objects of gold. The gracefulness of a winged fish contrasts with the grandeur of the statues.