Fascinating Humanity

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Peru Upper Amazon Region: More pre-Inca Chachapoya Ruins

My last post showed a few pictures of Chachapoya stone ruins which, in 2007, when I photographed them, had just been discovered by settlers. Buried under the moss of the cloud forest, they were difficult to distinguish from the surrounding vegetation.

However, Chachapoya ruins, like the Kuelap citadel, have been known to exist for more than a century. Over the years many have been cleared from the surrounding vegetation to give travelers easier access to them. And though what pushed me to return to Chachapoya country was the news of the new discovery, I also photographed several of the more accessible ones, as shown hereafter.

Pre-Inca Chachapoya sarcophagi (mummy casings) looking towards the rising sun on a cliff ledge of the Andes Mountains’ eastern face at the Karija site. There is no way to photograph them from the front.

Chachapoya cliff mausolea at site known as Revash.

Chachapoya cliff necropolis known as Diablo Huasi, a day trek from Leimebamba.

Chachapoya ruin near Leimebamba known as El Molinete

Chachapoya ruin near Leimebamba known as El Molinete..

Kuelap, a Chachapoya walled city and citadel. Its protective wall rises at places to more than 30 feet. Llamas browsing.

Kuelap, a Chachapoya walled city and citadel.

Kuelap, a Chachapoya walled city and citadel. The snake was one of four Chachapoya deities.

I photographed this Chachapoya stone engraving at a hotel. The owner could not tell where it came from. The puma that it represents was another of four Chachapoya deities.

Leymebamba (Amazonas). Museum. Casing of a Chachapoya mummy inside a glass display.

Chachapoya bones rolled up like firewood. Was displayed at the Leimebamba Museum.

Friday, January 9, 2015

Peru: Chachapoya Lost City Hiding In The Cloud Forest

Lost Chachapoya city hiding under the moss of centuries

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Back in 1976, on assignment for Natural History magazine in northeastern Peru’s Upper Amazon Province, I came across the remains of a huge rectangular stone building, almost flush with the summit. It commanded a sweeping view of the countryside.

“A great military observation post,” I remember thinking. I would later learn that it had belonged to an enigmatic, warlike people known as the Chachapoya, who flourished in the region from the beginning of the ninth century until their subjugation by the Inca in the 1470s. For defense reasons, they built their fortress cities and tombs in the remote heights along the eastern edge of the Andes.

As I walked around the foot of the cliff, looking up in search for a good camera angle, I dropped into a 10-foot hole. Dazed but unhurt, I found I had landed inside a tunnel that stretched far in opposite directions. Somehow, I managed to climb out. Back at the farm where I was staying, I asked about the tunnel.

“It was to shorten the distance,” the farmer replied. What he meant was that, according to local lore, the Chachapoya who entered the tunnel were magically transported, Star Trek-style, to places hundreds of miles away.

Moved by the experience, I promised myself to return, and 31 years later, hearing of the Discovery of a new Chachapoya lost city, I flew back there, this time on an Archaeology magazine assignment.

In my yesterday post of a cloud forest picture, I mentioned how the ruins are so hidden behind the moss of centuries that you could pass near them without noticing them.

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Thursday, January 8, 2015

Peru: Spooky Cloud Forest

Peru’s moss-choked cloud forest in Upper Amazon, darker in real life than in this photograph, is as silent as it is mysterious. Nothing moved there as I looked for moss-covered and overgrown pre-Inca Chachapoya stone ruins, now as green as their surroundings and nearly invisible. Not a twig snapped. Not a bird sang. Not a snake slithered away. Not an insect peeked from under a dead leaf.

The ancient Chachapoya there had rested untouched for many centuries. But settlers had discovered their ancient village and they would soon go treasure hunting before archaeologists could find support for their own digging.

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