HILL OF "PALOMAR" AND "PIEDRA DEL ÁGUILA"

HILL OF THE DOVECOT AND STONE OF THE EAGLE

The marteños are fond of this place. This small hill welcomes everybody who comes to Santa Marta through the ancient path of Trujillo since immemorial times. It always was a meeting point for couples and friends, a place where to sit down in some stone which was placed there on purpose and to talk after a walk along the path.
In the estate Valdehonduras, a few meters from the Hill of the Dovecot, there was a drinking water fountain used by the marteños long ago. For that, even until recently, in this place there was a "gangway", that is to say, a couple of stones placed on the wall on each side like steps that allowed jumping it easily. A flat board placed on the top part of the wall allowed to leave the pitchers while people jumped.
1 kilometre far straight ahead from here, in a south-easterly direction, there is the most ancient human vestige of Santa Marta: the "Stone of the Eagle", approximately from 3.500-3.000 years ago. It is a petroglyph or a prehistoric engraving on a flat slate whose origin is estimated to be from the final stage of the Bronze Age (1600-800 B.C.). On one side there is a space that would allow two seated persons to observe it with ease. Valdehonduras's prehistoric engraving has 159 sketches and 40 crevices, standing out some inscriptions as a foot form or an axe. Nobody knows very well what sense it had, though it is very probable to be an astral interpretation, possibly related to the movements of the planet Venus: its luminosity, its mysterious daily changes, appearances and concealments and its apparent change of size, would raise the curiosity and the fascination of our remote ancestors. Since it is located in a private area, we will need an authorization to visit it.

The oral tradition and the toponymy indicate to us that other three similar engravings might have existed in the surrounding areas of the current Santa Marta.