MUSEUM WORKER OBSERVES GOLD PIECE NAMED MUSIC RAFT ON EXHIBIT AT THE GOLD MUSEUM OF BOGOTA,...

Eduardo Londono, a woker at Bogota's Gold Museum, observes a gold piece named "La Balsa Muisca" or "Muisca Raft", the most representative legendary piece on display, on September 16, 2002. Since the arrival of the Spanish here in 1536, a tenth of a ton of gold artifacts has been fished from its muddy bottom by brash treasure-hunters and explorers, including this solid gold miniature, discovered in a cave in 968, that depicts the Golden Man and his shamans aboard their raft, midway into their ritual. The ancient ritual of the Golden Man - "El Dorado" in Spanish - disappeared long before the arrival of the Spanish in South America, but the legend lured droves of conquistadors and looters to this small lake in the Colombian Andes. REUTERS/Daniel Munoz/FEATURE/COLOMBIA-ELDORADO JMG/GN