Ex-Peruvian First Lady Slams Yale Over Machu Picchu Artifacts

posted on April 14th, 2009 in Archaeology, Incas, Machu Picchu, Peru, Peru-Yale Controversy

Alejandro Toledo inauguration at Machu Picchu

Eliane Karp-Toledo and her husband, Alejandro Toledo, at his inauguration in 2001 at Machu Picchu

Peruvian Blasts Yale

Yale Daily News

April 7, 2009

As a crowd of students, faculty and even a few Peruvians hissed and clapped, Eliane Karp-Toledo, the former first lady of Peru, called for the immediate return of all Inca artifacts housed at Yale last night.

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3,000-Year-Old “Spider God” Temple Discovered in Peru

posted on January 14th, 2009 in Archaeology, Northern Kingdoms of Peru, Peru, Recent Discoveries

“Spider God” Temple Found in Peru

National Geographic News

October 29, 2008

A 3,000-year-old temple featuring an image of a spider god may hold clues to little-known cultures in ancient Peru.
People of the Cupisnique culture, which thrived from roughly 1500 to 1000 B.C., built the temple in the Lambayeque valley on Peru’s north coast.

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Debate Continues Over Whether A German Discovered Machu Picchu

posted on December 18th, 2008 in Andes Mountains, Archaeology, Did a German Discover Machu Picchu?, Machu Picchu, Peru, Recent Discoveries

Machu Picchu in 1911

The ruins of Peru’s Machu Picchu in 1913 (photo by Hiram Bingham)

Debate Rages in Peru: Was a Lost City Ever Lost?

December 8, 2008

NYT

CUSCO, Peru — From the postcards bearing his swashbuckling, fedora-topped image to the luxury train emblazoned with his name that runs to the foot of the mountain redoubt of Machu Picchu, reminders are ubiquitous here of Hiram Bingham, the Yale explorer long credited with revealing the so-called Lost City of the Incas to the outside world almost a century ago.

But in recent months, a confluence of contrary events has threatened to upend the legacy of Mr. Bingham, the ostensible model for the fictional Indiana Jones…

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Proof that Ancient South Americans Took Hallucinogens Discovered in Mummies’ Hair

posted on November 8th, 2008 in Andes Mountains, Archaeology, Bolivia, Recent Discoveries, Tiwanaku Culture

 Tiwanaku ceramic vessel in museum in La Paz, Bolivia

Tiwanaku ceramic vessel in museum in La Paz, Bolivia; evidence of South Americans taking hallucinogens dates back at least to the Chavin culture, in north/central Peru, which flourished from 1,000 to 200 B.C.

Andean Mummy Hairs Show Hallucinogen Use

Discovery News

Oct. 29, 2008 — Andean mummy hair has provided the first direct archaeological evidence of the consumption of hallucinogens in pre-Hispanic Andean populations, according to recent gas chromatography and mass spectrometry analysis…

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Ancient Pyramid Discovered in Peru by Satellite

posted on October 13th, 2008 in Archaeology, Nazca Lines and Culture, Peru, Peruvian Pyramids, Recent Discoveries

Pyramid Complex Reconstruction at Cahuachi, Peru

 An Artist’s Reconstruction of the Pyramid Complex at Cahuachi, Peru

Ancient Peru Pyramid Spotted by Satellite

New remote-sensing technology reveals huge structure beneath surface

Discovery Channel

Mon., Oct. 6, 2008

A new remote sensing technology has peeled away layers of mud and rock near Peru’s Cahuachi desert to reveal an ancient adobe pyramid, Italian researchers announced on Friday at a satellite imagery conference in Rome…

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Ancient Wari Mummies Discovered in Peru, Alongside Child Sacrifices

posted on September 23rd, 2008 in Archaeology, Peru, Peruvian Mummies, Recent Discoveries

Ancient Wari Mummy Discovered in Peru

The funerary mask of a Wari woman who died and was buried some 1300 years ago in the area of Lima, Peru

Oh mummy! Archaeologists Unearth Ancient Tribe Members Sacrificed 1,300 Years Ago

The Daily Mail

August 27, 2008

Archaeologists working at an ancient Peruvian burial site have unearthed the first intact ruins belonging to a tribe which existed centuries before the mighty Incas…

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Controversy Surrounds Story About German Who May Have Discovered Machu Picchu

posted on September 4th, 2008 in Archaeology, Did a German Discover Machu Picchu?, Incas, Machu Picchu, Peru, Recent Discoveries

Francisco Pizarro Seizing the Inca Emperor, Atahualpa

(Above: Francisco Pizarro seizes the Inca Emperor Atahualpa in 1533. Although the emperor turned over a large ransom in gold and silver in exchange for being set free, Pizarro murdered him anyway).

Machu Picchu: Known and Unknown, There and Not There

(Originally published in Spanish in Peru in La Republica, Aug 31, 2008. The Spanish version is included here, directly after the English version)

By Daniel Buck

Mention the phrase “Lost City of the Incas” or “Inca treasure” and normally skeptical journalists drop their guard and credulously report the most unfounded speculations…

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Did a German Adventurer Discover Machu Picchu Before Hiram Bingham? An Interview with Paolo Greer (Part 3)

posted on August 27th, 2008 in Andes Mountains, Archaeology, Did a German Discover Machu Picchu?, Incas, Machu Picchu, Peru, Recent Discoveries

An Interview with Paolo Greer (Part 3)

(To read Part 2, click here)

19) In what year did you find Augusto Berns’ “promotional materials” in Peru’s National Library?

PG: You are referring to the collection of Berns’ papers I mentioned in my article for the South American Explorer… (more…)

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Did a German Adventurer Discover Machu Picchu Before Hiram Bingham? An Interview with Paolo Greer (Part 2)

posted on August 4th, 2008 in Andes Mountains, Archaeology, Did a German Discover Machu Picchu?, Incas, Machu Picchu, Peru, Recent Discoveries

AN INTERVIEW WITH PAOLO GREER (PART 2)

(To read Part 1, click here)

7) You recently published an article in the “South American Explorer” called “Machu Picchu before Bingham.” In the article you make a number of claims, among them that a German, Augusto R. Berns, purchased an estate called the “Cercado de San Antonio,” or “Torontoy,” in 1867 and that… (more…)

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