In May 2007, US company Odyssey Marine Exploration discovered $500,000,000 of Peruvian gold and silver coins from the sunken colonial ship Nuestra Señora del las Mercedes. Spain immediately claimed the bounty as property of the Spanish crown, as did Peru. The saga begins more than 200 years ago, and is one that is only now coming to an end.
Category: "History"
Torrential rains in Cusco damage Inca wall at Sacsayhuamán
Heavy rains have not only affected Lima this year, what is traditionally the start of the Andean wet-season has also seen rains heavier than usual, some even damaging ancient walls at the Inca site of Sacsayhuamán.
Chiclayo: The Preservation of Tradition
In November, Tom Filipowicz visited the event held for the Mochica Identity Week and discusses what he feels is a strong local connection and respect for traditions and customs. Participating were school groups, each choosing and important local custom to present to visitors.
Volunteer at ancient Chan Chan
Does toiling under the hot desert sun heaving bricks up a ladder to rebuild collapsing walls interest you? What if the walls were many hundreds and hundreds of years old and part of the world’s largest adobe city, one of the largest cities of any kind in the ancient world? A city home to the rulers of the Peruvian desert coast, the Chimú imperial heart of Chan Chan. Does a couple of days of hands-on archaeology at one of the world’s most important archaeological sites interest YOU?
Top 10 Archaeological Discoveries of 2009
Peru – the land the never ceases to amaze and who’s history is so long and plentiful that we’ve barely been able to scratch the surface. Find out what archaeologists have discovered just during 2009.
School kids attack Chan Chan’s finest huaca
Terrible news for lovers of Peru’s ancient history and archaeology enthusiasts: Peruvian school children viciously attack one of the greatest works of their ancestors.
The group filmed themselves throw rocks, kick and scratch the ancient friezes of the Huaca Arco Iris, also known as the Huaca del Dragón, to later post on You Tube to show off to friends. One, putting on a Spanish accent, films them saying “kick it, kick it, this is how you love your Peru, no?”.
Viracocha: An Andean Creation Myth
In the beginning, Lord Con Ticci Viracocha, prince and creator of all things, emerged from the void and created the earth and the heavens. He rose from Lake Titicaca at the dawn of life…
Colonial jewel in Peru’s capital to be restored with UN help
As part of a United Nations-backed plan to restore historical architectural gems that have deteriorated into slums, residents of Rimac, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Peru’s capital, Lima, will start registering property titles as of 2010 in an effort to restore the priceless landmarks.
Re-enactment in Ayacucho – The battle that liberated a continent
On the 10th of December of this year, 185 years passed since Peru won a battle that decisively ended any hope for a Spanish presence in South America. At 3,500 above sea level, on the field of battle of the Pampa de Quinua, thousands gathered to take part in a huge recreation in honour of this occasion.
Four ceremonial fountains discovered at Machu Picchu
The Incas possessed what was the culmination of all Andean hydraulic engineering knowledge developed over millennia by the civilisations that came before them. This knowledge is said by experts to have been far superior to that of the Spanish who conquered them and wiped it out for ever. As good a place as any to witness the evidence of their impressive skills is at Machu Picchu, and it is at this famous site that yet more discoveries have been made.
Naylamp’s temple discovered in Lambayeque
After eight months of careful excavation, archaeologists of the Brüning Museum in Lambayeque have discovered, next to the Huaca Chornancap pyramid, what is thought to be the sacred temple of Naylamp, a supposedly mythical ruler that according to oral legend was the founder of the post-Moche Lambayeque civilisation.
Lima pays homage to the delicious anticucho
On the banks of the river Rímac, on the beautiful and historic Alameda de Chabuca Granda with its ageing wooden balconies, in a space often occupied by fairs and special events, Lima today paid homage to the delicious anticucho.
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