Cerro tusa

The landscape of the municipality of Venecia headed by Cerro Tusa, a unique mountain in the world due to its pyramidal shape and its pre-Columbian history narrated through archaeological sites and remains, is full of interesting aspects such as the respectful relationship of human beings with the land and the sacralization of its imposing sites such as caves, hilltops and mountains of volcanic origin.

Cerro Tusa is a hill located in southwest Antioquia, in the municipality of Venecia, department of Antioquia (Latitude: 5°57'53.04" North, Longitude: 75°46'14.42" West) on the central mountain range, with a height above sea level of 1,954 meters at its highest point. This hill consists of a volcanic formation which emerged from the earth in the Tertiary period, approximately 50 million years ago, forming together with Cerro Bravo what could have been the chimneys of a great volcano.

The fertility and beauty of the lands located in its surroundings was used by the indigenous societies that inhabited this territory. Archaeological evidence of the habitual consumption of coca leaves by its ancient inhabitants has been discovered in several places in the municipality of Venecia, dating back to 2000 years before the present. Still today innumerable traces of the indigenous societies of the past of great archaeological, anthropological and tourist value remain in the municipality. Among them are the Cuevas de Santa Catalina, which was an important sanctuary and offering site, in addition to the Petroglyphs on the sidewalk in the La Amalia neighborhood and the petroglyph called "the frog god" in the Arabia neighborhood.

Cerro Tusa constitutes the main pre-Columbian sanctuary of the territory comprised by the current territory of the department of Antioquia. Archaeological investigations carried out in the area around the hill during the last 20 years, corroborate that between the years 0-800 A.D. The inhabitants of the area, ancestors of the culture called Zenufaná, who were found by the Conquistadors in the 16th century AD, inhabited the basin of the Sinifaná ravine and made their offerings and payments in the Santa Catalina Caves, near the hill, where it was found. an abundant deposit of pre-Columbian offerings such as very fine pottery, stone tools, bone remains of animals and seeds.

At the base of Cerro Tusa, on the north side, an important and mysterious sanctuary stands out. It is a stone with 9 steps, possibly carved, which ascend to a platform. This stone was used by the indigenous people as an offering, a place of worship and ceremonies, it is known in the oral tradition of the inhabitants of the region as the "Stone of sacrifices" or the "Altar of offerings". From this stone, when looking up, a megalith stands out from the forest that emerges from the mountain, where you can see an apparent human face known in oral tradition as "The Face of the Goddess" or the "The Face of India". ”. This set of altar and idol, could have constituted an important pre-Columbian sanctuary, to which different stone paths that converge in Cerro Tusa led, making possible the religious pilgrimages of the inhabitants of a vast region during pre-Hispanic times.

An ancient stone road has also been registered and protected, located between the town center and the hill, which communicates with the caves and with the ceremonial site of Cerro Tusa.

According to the Chronicles of the Spanish Conquest, which recount what happened during the second expedition of Captain Jorge Robledo in 1541, this territory located in the valleys of the Cauca River was known as the province of "Cenufaná" or "Zenufaná", from what testimony remained in the name of the Sinifaná creek. The accounts of the expedition say that this tribe, settled in the lowlands of the municipality, was a producer of different agricultural products, including marijuana.