Tierradentro Tomb

The underground tombs of Tierradentro, Colombia. These were built around the 6th to 9th centuries, roughly coinciding with the ongoing ancestor worship near San Augustín to the north. Each of the chambers housed a single buried body. And alongside it were often ceramic pots containing the cremated remains of other individuals. This suggests a segregated hierarchical society, perhaps with those who were cremated actually being killed so as to continue to serve the higher status individual in the afterlife. The larger, more elaborate tombs have carved spiral staircases leading down into them, suggesting that the tribe that built these may have descended back into the earth for ceremonies paying homage to their ancestors.