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Lost Inca City Discovered

  
 
grant
11:50 / 04.02.02


(In Spanish here)

quote:FIETTA JARQUE | Madrid
The ruins of the mythic lost city of the Incas, Great Vilcabamba, was found some 80 kilometers away in a straight line from the monumental ruins of Machu Picchu. It was identified after four expeditions headed by Galician historian Santiago del Valle. Manco Inca took shelter in this city and led a rebel movement against Spanish domination--an effort which ended in defeat.

The Ruins of Great Vilcabamba are hidden by dense vegetation and are at the summit of a mountain flanked by two large rivers some 80 Km. away from Machu Picchu, in the Peruvian department of Cusco: a nearly inaccessible location from which Manco Inca, heir to the Inca throne directed a rebellion that survived him by almost four decades. The city remained hidden in the jungle and the Spaniards were not able to reach it until 1572, when they found it burned and abandoned in the face of the onslaught.

A fair part of this story is known thanks to the discovery of a manuscript that was lost for over four centuries--the chronicle of Juan de Betanzos, found in 1987 by María del Carmen Martín Rubio in some archives on Mallorca. Betanzos was the negotiatior send by the Spaniards to deal with the rebel incas.

'We have discovered the city's location, contrasting it with the data retrieved from the chronicles and the surface area," explained Santiago del Valle, technical director of the expeditions of 1988, 1999 and 2001. 'We have been escorted by an archeaologist with the Peruvian National Institute of Culture, Luis Guevara, who certified the discovery. All we need to do know is to clean up the area, which covers some 15,000 meters approximately, and begin the exploration to which the Peruvian Government will contribute."

For the time being there aren't many traces as to what will be uncovered in this area, approximately a league and a half long and shaped like a half moon. Several intact tombs have been discovered as well as the remains of five pyramidal platforms. "It was a center of political and religious power, and although they deid their best to flee and take everything they could with them, we will surely find important remains, " says Del Valle. "I don't think it will be so spectacular in the architectural sense because they didn't have the time to perform sophisticated carving in stone. But one of the most fascinating things about the Incas was not only their buildings, but the privileged construction networks they created."

Del Valle, who belongs to an association devoited to recovering ancient roads in his native Galicia, remarks that for a civilization lacking horses and carts, the roads were built according to natural characteristics. "The structure of inca roads shows us a unique conjunction arising from their belief in spirits hidden among the rocks, the earth and certain plants and animals known as "apus" which led them to choos extraordinary, almost magical locations to place their roads."

The first certain clues of the discovery were found thanks to a stone serpent and bear: "The son of the only peasant living in the area found the remains of stonework in the area which showed a large serpent's head," explains Del Valle. "These are very supersititious people and are hesitant to approach such sites. Some time afterward, the boy died and the family didn't want to hear anything more about the subject." Later on they found the tracks of a bear path. "It turned out that the bears made use of the old Inca road."

The city was forgotten until the legend was revived in the 19th century. American researcher was bent on finding it when he happend to discover the ruins of Machu Picchu.
 
 
grant
12:31 / 02.04.02
They just found another one.

LOST CITY OF THE INCAS IS DISCOVERED IN PERU
"An international archaeology team Monday (March 18, 2002) announced the discovery of a lost city of the Inca Empire that may have served as a refuge from Spanish conquerors."
"Surrounded by 18,000-foot high mountains and relatively close to the famed site of Machu Picchu, the site spreads over 1,500 acres on a steep peak known as Cerro Victoria, in southeastern Peru."
"Ruins of some 100 houses, storerooms, funeral sites and other structures have been uncovered at the city called Corihauraychina (pronounced Kor-ee-wah-rah-chee-nah--J.T.)"
"The ancient ruins are spread over the steep peak, where the Incas fled after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. The complex includes a truncated pyramid located high atop a hill, a ceremonial platform and an irrigation canal which extends for 8 kilometers (5 miles)."
"These are some of the most extensive ruins found since 1965, when American explorer Gene Savoy discovered Vilcabamba, considered the jungle refuge of the Inca Empire."
"Famed for their wealth, the Incas ruled the mountains of southern Peru until 1535, when the conquistadors, led by Francisco Pizarro, overthrew their empire."
"'We're hoping the sites will fill in some of the gaps in Inca history,' says expedition leader Peter Frost, an Inca scholar. Together with archaeologist Alfredo Valencia Zegarra of Peru's Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad, Frost announced the find at a news conference in Lima," Peru's capital.
"'Very few, if any, Spanish conquistadors reached the southern area of Vilcabamba,' said Frost in an interview, referring to the region surrounding Vilcabamba (which the Incas themselves called Antisuyu--J.T.)
"Corihuayrachina offers scientists evidence that the Inca Empire spread across the eastern side of the Andes earlier than previously thought, sometime after 1200 A.D. It also may have served as a refuge for the Incas after they rebelled against the Spanish from 1536 to 1572, Frost says."
"At 10,000 to 13,000 feet (3,000 to 3,900 meters) in altitude, the city still represents a tough climb."
"Some 22 miles (35 kilometers) southwest of Machu Picchu, the best-known Inca city, Frost says. Two years ago, he led a mountain-trekking expedition through these mountains, catching sight of Corihuayrachina on a distant ridge. A year later, with support from the National Geographic Society, his team reached the site after a four-day climb."
"Inca scholars greeted news of the discovery with interest."
"'We don't find big sites very often, especially not ones from this early' in the Inca civilization, says archaeologist Michael Moseley of the University of Florida in Gainesville. Mountain tops served as a water source during droughts, so Andean people venerated such sites, he says. The expedition plans to return to the site and excavate a cistern above the city." (See USA Today for March 19, 2002, "A likely last refuge for the Incas," page 8D. Also El Comercio of Lima, Peru for March 17, 2002.)
(Editor's Comment: This discovery clears up a historical mystery in the life of Garcilaso de la Vega, the man who wrote The Royal Commentaries of the Incas. Garcilaso was born in Cuzco on April 12, 1539, the son of Captain Sebastian de la Vega and an Inca princess, Nusta Chimpu Ocllo. Nusta converted to the Roman Catholic faith and took the name Isabel. Her brother, Huallpa Tupac Yupanqui, did likewise and changed his name to Francisco. It was Uncle Francisco who told young Garcilaso about the history of the Incas and who introduced the boy to his father's older brother, Cusi Huallpa. In 1553, Cusi Huallpa arranged for the teenaged Garcilaso to meet Sairi Tupac, the fugitive Inca emperor who had come surreptitiously to Cuzco. Historians have long puzzled over the question Where did Sairi Tupac come from? The answer is now obvious--the secret mountaintop city of Corihuayrachina. It's also obvious that Cusi Huallpa, that canny 90-year-old sorcerer, did not share all of the secrets of Antisuyu with young Garcilaso. He held back a lot of information, such as the location of the really old pyramids and las socabones, the mysterious prehistoric tunnels that honeycomb the Andes.)
 
 
angel
14:10 / 02.04.02
Very Cool! Thanks for that Grant.

Is it just me or are there more and more of these types of sites being discovered at the moment?
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
16:02 / 02.04.02
I love the fact that you can still find great stuff like this... makes you want to be an archeologist again...
 
 
grant
16:40 / 12.06.02
UFO ROUNDUP Volume 7, Number 24 June 11, 2002 Editor: Joseph Trainor

SCIENTISTS DISCOVER AN INCA RUIN IN THE JUNGLES OF PERU

"U.S. and British explorers said they have found a large Inca town that was lost for more than 400 years in the jungles of Peru."
"'This is the biggest thing I have come across in 20 years working in the area,' said the team's co-leader Hugh Thomson, a Fellow of Britain's reknowned Royal Geographic Society."
"'It felt like a once-in-a-lifetime experience when we found it,'" Thomson added, in an interview from his home in Bristol, UK.
"Working on a tip from a mule driver, four researchers spent three weeks cutting through (rain) forests. At the bottom of a valley carved by the Rio Yanama" in eastern Peru, "they found the site called Cota Coca."
The deserted Inca city is located 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Cuzco, which had been the capital of Tahuatinsuyo, the Inca empire. The Rio Yanama valley is 1,850 meters (6,069 feet) above sea level.
(Editor's Note: The Incas called this region Antisuyo. Today it's known in Peru as El Oriente or la selva.)
"'It was a very privileged moment. This is a very substantial settlement, but you can pass within 10 feet (3 meters) of a ruin in the jungle and not know it is there,' said Thomson, who led the expedition with Gary Ziegler."
"He said there was no indication why the town had been abandoned and forgotten. There was no evidence of battle or looting, and the Incas appeared to have simply withdrawn from the area after the death of (the last Inca) Tupac Amaru in 1571."
(Editor's Comment: It's possible that an epidemic wiped out the population of Cota Coca, a disease caused by European viruses against which the indigenous people had no immunity. This happened in North America. When Hernando de Soto traveled along the Mississippi River, he found 50 towns and villages. But when French explorers returned to the same area a century later, there was not even a village left. When the Pilgrims arrived in Tolba Meneham (now Massachusetts) in 1620, they found a large town, Pawtuxet (now Plymouth, Mass.), completely abandoned. The leading sachem (chief) Massasoit told them that the population had been destroyed by a sickness.)
"'After finding Cota Coca, we will be going back to the area to search for more ruins,' Thomson said, 'If this settlement is there, there could well be others.'" (See USA Today for June 7, 2002, "Explorers find lost Inca town in Peru," page 11A.)
(Editor's Comment: Hurry up, Hugh. Right now every huaquero in Cuzco is talking about the giant golden idols, stacks of jewels and the legendary lost treasure of Atahualpa, all just lying around, waiting to be found in that Nuevo El Dorado, the Rio Yanama valley.)
 
 
gridley
19:32 / 12.06.02
I had a Peruvian friend in college named Caesar, who said his father was technically an Inca shaman, and that his grandfather (deceased)had actually been a full fledged, gone through all the rituals, Inca shaman. His father always said there are dozens of so-called "lost Inca cities" and that tons of the contemporary Inca-descended people know exactly where they are, but just aren't telling archeologists because they're sacred. I was an archeology major at the time so I would beg him to get his dad to tell me where just one of them was, but he was always on with that "sacred" excuse.

I never knew whether it was true, but I asked another Peruvian friend years later what he thought of Caesar's story, and he said "Oh, sure" like it was an established fact.
 
 
The Monkey
23:10 / 12.06.02
Considering how many cultures there are in the Andes - many of whom got stomped on by the Inca and some of whom have had held kingdoms of their own (such as the Aymara), I sometimes wonder if the "lost Inca cities" are actually Inca at all. Since there are many stylistic similarities to the architecture and iconography of Andean cultures, it would take awhile to actually differentiate from artefactual data.
 
  
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