A Piece of Paradise from Colombia
October 28, 2009 Archaeology, Blogs, LAARC
It is 22nd September 2009 and I am standing, with my extended family, outside the Alcaldia Municipal, the Mayor’s office, in La Vega, Colombia. We are all gathered with an official representative of the town, Snr Marco Antonio Herrera, who will take us to collect a sample of clay from a site nearby the picturesque Laguna de El Tabacal.
The Laguna de Tabacal is now the centre piece of a nature reserve park, situated about 7 kilometres from the town, approached by a long winding road among the surrounding mountains. It is in an area of natural beauty with its wildlife and exotic vegetation; all for visitors to enjoy. There are many legends and myths told of the Laguna; said to have been formed by a shining light descending from the sky and was once a ceremonial meeting place for the Panche, a pre-Colombian group of nomadic Indians. Here, they worshipped their chiefs showering them with gifts of gold and where, beneath the waters, a golden headed serpent was supposed to dwell.
On the lake, today is an island once called ‘una isla flotante’, or a floating island, which was believed to move according to the hour of the day. Sadly, this no longer happens due to the dense vegetation now found growing over the island.
A short walking distance, outside of the reserve, we were taken to a secure spot along the roadside, where we could safely remove our sample of clay. Without much difficulty, we managed to extract the clay from alluvial deposits, found all over the area and which had been laid down many millions of years ago.
The next journey was for me to fly home with the sample in my rucksack. This did not prove too difficult by having the necessary official documentation beforehand given to me, with greatest thanks, by the Mayor of La Vega .Obviously, while passing through the various customs checks, there were the constant raising of eyebrows from the custom officials, three times leaving Colombia and once leaving France, I eventually arrived with the package safely in Great Britain.
The final destination of our sample was for the ‘Clay from around the World’ project designed by Julia Rowntree and Duncan Hooson in Deptford, London. It will be part of a very welcome addition to the collection of clays from all over the world that are to be assembled in London to mark the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012.
Steve Tucker, LAARC Curator
[La Laguna de El Tabacal: Co-ordinates 5 - 0 - 38.77 N / 74 - 20 -11.17 W, 1250m (4100 feet) above sea level, Temperature 23C]