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?”.
January 9, 2010 | Archaeology, News, Opinion
Above the Inca capital of Cusco (Q’osco) sits the important ceremonial site and one of human-kinds most impressive constructions called Sacsayhuamán, which despite its global fame still offers up secrets to investigators. Yesterday the discovery was announced of three burials, one of which contained the severed heads of the Inca’s enemies.
November 13, 2009 | Archaeology, News, Opinion
Thanks to its extreme biodiversity and the history of cultural mixing, Peru’s cuisine is increasingly considered one of the world’s greats. It is for this reason that the government has unveiled plans to make the country’s gastronomy an item of World Heritage in the “culture” category.
September 29, 2009 | News, Peruvian Food
Only 5 of the 134 projects of the nine-year-old so called “master plan” have been executed to date, Repeated illegal land invasions by locals one of the principle problems for the ancient site. Chan Chan, the ancient capital city of the Chimú, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1986 because of its extraordinary architectural and historical importance. Unfortunately, the list World Heritage sites isn’t the only UNESCO list it is on.
July 6, 2009 | Archaeology, News
It almost defies belief that a mining company would summit an application to mine for iron ore in the ruins of the capital of the once powerful Chimu kingdom. The sprawling archaeological zone of Chan Chan is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the largest adobe constructions on earth.
Thankfully, Peru’s geological authority in charge of granting permission (INGEMMET) has no plans to approve this particular application.
June 28, 2009 | Archaeology, News
Machu Picchu: Its more than 32,000 hectares are home to 423 types of birds, 352 kinds of butterflies, 41 species of mammals and 13 species of river creature that are protected by the National Institute of Natural Resources (INRENA). To see them you simply need to travel along the Inca trail, which is offers the best access to the biological reserve.
January 19, 2009 | Cusco Guide, Nature
In less than two weeks since work began, amazing discoveries have been made at the Cerro Pátapo archaeological site, until now little more than a pile of rocks. This huge site that stretches over 5km is now revealing its importance – it is a missing link between the declining Moche culture and the newly arrived Wari.
December 14, 2008 | Archaeology, Lambayeque & Chiclayo Guide, News
A team from Peru’s National Institute of Culture (INC) working on the ruins of Torontoy in the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, have discovered the tomb of an Inca with full funerary regalia. The gender and age of the tomb’s owner has not yet been determined, but found with the body were a number of decorated ceramics and two pins.
November 28, 2008 | Archaeology, News
Thousands of archaeological sites dating from hundreds to thousands of years old sit abandoned and forgotten across Peru. Year after year they decay further through lack of care or are intentionally destroyed. In the past century untold amounts of history has been lost.
Those that are recognised and fall under the protection of Peru’s National Institute of Culture (INC) don’t fair much better, but at least the INC must grant permission for any work to be carried out around the ruins, preventing their destruction in large and/or legal projects.
November 28, 2008 | Archaeology, News
A cannon dating from Peru’s Spanish colonial period has been found by workers constructing part of Lima’s new Metropolitan transport system and underground central station. Unearthed at the intersection between Camaná and Emancipation, the cannon measures 2.79 metres long and is in good condition.
An archaeologist from the country’s National Institute of Culture (INC), Carmen Gabe Benaki, explains that the cannon was likely to have been reused in the 1800s to protect an old mansion that once occupied the site but no longer stands. During the building’s demolition it would have been left in place and become buried.
November 28, 2008 | Lima City Guide, News
German archaeologist Klaus Koschmieder has spent three years exploring and investigating an area rich in long lost archaeological remains of the Chachapoyas culture. Despite his amazing success in discovering previously unknown cliff face sarcophagi on an ever-reducing budget, his project may come to an abrupt end thanks to Peru’s bureaucratic and incompetent Instituto Nacional de Cultura (INC).
October 2, 2008 | Archaeology, News, Opinion
Found at at the Plaza de la Bandera where the district of Pueblo Libre meets Breña and Lima Cercado, the ruins of five pyramids that make up this Lima Culture complex called Huaca Mateo Salado tower over the surrounding modern houses.
September 10, 2008 | Archaeology, Culture & History, Lima City Guide
