The Caribbean plains of northern Colombia have been inhabited by various societies for the past 11,000 years. Groups of hunters and gatherers, agricultural societies, potters and goldsmiths all took full advantage of the richness and variety of the natural environment.

Around 200 B.C., this region was progressively settled by agricultural communities and goldsmiths, who as time passed, came to form Zenú societies. At the time of the Conquest in the 16th century, the Zenúes shared this territory with indigenous groups from the River Magdalena.

The mixing of indigenous, white and African populations from this time onwards has led to the ethnic richness that is so typical of Colombia's Caribbean region today.

The Zenú Gold Museum tells the story of the goldworking settlements of the plains, their development, and their extraordinary legacy.

Around the year 9000 B.C., 11,000 years ago, groups of hunters and gatherers left behind evidence of their passing, all along the courses of the Sinú and San Jorge rivers. With spear tips and scrapers carved out of stone, they hunted and cut up animals that are now extinct, such as mastodons, American horses and sabre-toothed tigers.

6,000 years ago, the climate got hotter. A group of people began to settle during the dry season by the San Jacinto stream in the mountain range of the same name. They ate reptiles, fish, felines, deer, toads and snails, as well as grass and wild cereals.

On the coast, meanwhile, new lagoons and mangrove swamps formed at the mouths of the rivers. Nearby, the inhabitants of small villages dumped the remains of shells, fish, mammals and pottery for centuries, and these came to form platforms, known as "shell mounds". They also ate roots and vegetables that they started to grow. The oldest sites were around the Dique Channel, and were settled from 3000 B.C. onwards. This era is known as the Formative Period.

Around 4000 B.C., the people of San Jacinto served food in bowls made of clay mixed with vegetable fibres. This is one of the earliest instances of pottery being made in America.

As time passed, the inhabitants of the "shell mounds" began to mix sand with clay to form objects that were more compact, apt to store liquids and cook food. Bowls and plates made at San Jacinto were decorated with birds and mammals moulded around the edges.