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Wednesday, 23rd April 2008 (5532 views)

Gold artefacts that were buried for 1,000 years in the "richest burial site" discovered in the Americas are going on show in a new exhibition in Lafayette, Louisiana, according to reports.

River of Gold tells the story of the burial site of an ancient Panamanian paramount chief, whose tomb was uncovered when the Rio Grande de Cocle burst its banks in the 19th century and revealed the 30 burial sites, 2theadvocate.com states.

Gold discs, nose rings and other ornaments dating from 450 AD were recovered from the site by archaeologists from Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania during the 1930s and 1940s. More than 3,000 gold necklaces were found in or around the unidentified chief's burial chamber, which dates from between 700 AD and 900 AD.

The area, named Sitio Conte after the family who own the land where the burial site was discovered, is located around 100 miles south-east of Panama City.

In pre-Columbian times, the site says, the area was part of Le Grand Colomb - or Great Colombia - which covered parts of modern day Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and Peru.

Signs of the indigenous peoples of this area are believed to stretch back 11,000 years.

 

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