Latest News

Pictograms in the Chiribiquete National Park.

Lines on Stone: The Millennial Rock Art of the La Lindosa Range

By Richard Emblin - November 20, 2025

At the eastern fringes of the Andes, where the Orinoco River Basin unfurls in an ondulating canvas of green, punctuated by majestic rivers and sandstone mesas, lies one of the world’s most astonishing open-air galleries of human existence. The Serranía de La Lindosa, in the department of Guaviare, is a monumental tableau carved by nature […]

Ancient Colombians “Unmasked” with Digital Reawakening

By Richard Emblin - October 6, 2025

For centuries, the funerary masks of Colombia’s Eastern Andes have guarded their secrets. Crafted from resin, clay, wax, maize, and adorned with delicate beads, these masks were fitted so precisely to the faces of the dead that the mummified bodies appeared almost alive. Between the 13th and 18th centuries, the Muisca — an Indigenous civilization […]

Long lost Spanish Fort discovered in the depths of Cartagena bay

By Richard Emblin - March 6, 2025

A long-lost Spanish fort, San Matías, has been rediscovered submerged in Cartagena Bay, Colombia. Built in 1567 to defend the city, the fort was dismantled in 1626. The discovery opens new insights into the region’s colonial defense system.

Sardinata and the ancient burial ground of the Chitarero

By Richard Emblin - July 26, 2024

In Sardinata, Norte de Santander, local farmers have found archaeological artifacts of the Chitarero indigenous peoples, an extinct group that played a pivotal role in the early resistance against Spanish conquest.

Colombia may have lost coordinates of San José Galleon shipwreck

By The City Paper Staff - October 5, 2023

Documents with the coordinates of the San José Galleon shipwreck are either misplaced or lost, claims a news report, despite the location considered a state-guarded secret.

With Kogi masks, Colombia wants more ancestral treasures to return home

By Richard Emblin - September 4, 2023

With the return of the Kogi Kágaba masks, Colombia wants to reclaim more ancestral treasures from overseas museums. So far this year, an average of 50 objects are returning home every month.

Colombia finds two shipwrecks near legendary San José galleon

By Richard Emblin - June 7, 2022

Two largest shipwrecks have been spotted on the ocean floor by the Colombian Navy and close to the where the legendary San José galleon is located.

Galleon San José’s treasure will not finance salvage, claims VP Ramírez

By Richard Emblin - October 10, 2019

In an important announcement regarding the future of the San José galleon, Colombia’s vice-President Marta Lucía Ramírez said that the treasure will not pay for the shipwreck’s recovery.

Fernando Urbina and the Spanish Conquest in Rock Art

By Richard Emblin - November 27, 2018

Fernando Urbina has dedicated 40-years of research to Colombia’s ancient rock art. His discovery of petroglyphs in remote territories show the first contact between conquistadores and Amazonian tribes.

Colombia’s Museo Nacional inaugurates salon for pre-Hispanic antiquities

By Harriet Yates - October 22, 2018

The Museo Nacional has inaugurated a new exhibition space dedicated to pre-Hispanic cultures and that showcases rare artifacts by the Muisca.

Colombia recovers stolen patrimony during FBI raid in Indiana

By The City Paper Staff - October 11, 2018

An FBI investigation recovered 40 pre-Columbian artifacts smuggled out of Colombia and which were in the hands of an antiquities collector.

Colombia suspends salvage operations of San José galleon

By The City Paper Staff - July 24, 2018

President Santos has announced that the government is suspending the salvage operation of the legendary San José galleon after a petition was presented to a local court.

Guaviare’s Serranía La Lindosa receives protected status by ICANH

By Richard Emblin - June 7, 2018

The Serrania de La Lindosa in Guaviare has been given protected status by ICANH to save its ancient rock face pictograms.

Big Picture: The San José galleon from a Rembus 6000

By The City Paper Staff - May 22, 2018

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution confirmed Monday that a REMBUS 6000 submersible vehicle captured thousands of images of the “holy grail of shipwrecks” – the Galeón San José

Exclusive: A first look at the wreck of the San José galleon

By The City Paper Staff - May 8, 2018

A robot submarine has captured the first-ever color pictures of the remains of the San José galleon, six hundred meters deep on the ocean floor near Cartagena.

Nueva Esperanza: A Muisca town surfaces in Soacha

By Peter Hill - March 14, 2018

A grassy knoll near Soacha has revealed one of the most complete archaeological discoveries of the Muisca period.