Some 170 archaeologists and workers have spent the last year excavating a 3,000-year-old site in a rural area near the Colombian capital. Covering 7.8 hectares (19.25 acres), the dig is "unique in Colombia" in terms of offering the possibility of reconstructing ancient village life, archaeologist John Gonzalez said. "We have found an archaeological context that tells us about a probable form of village life, with some traces of family dwellings," Gonzalez added. "We also find structures of a ceremonial type of nature and funerary structures."
     The site has yielded 30 intact ceramic objects as well as human bones and teeth. The materials reveal that the inhabitants were members of the so-called Herrera culture, who lived in the highlands of central Colombia from around 900 BCE to 900 CE.

Edited from Latin American Herald Tribune (10 December 2013)