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(This article is
contributed by Gary Ziegler)
As a sometime
archaeologist and dedicated adventurer, I have been poking around
backcountry Peru since the1960s. While making an income by guiding
adventure programs, I have been compiling data on Inca roads and
sites associated with the last Incas. For the past several years, I
have focused my interest on Choquequirao, an unusual Inca ceremonial
site located spectacularly high above the Apurimac river some thirty
miles west of Machu Picchu. I believe it to be the ceremonial center
of the last Incas following their retreat from Cusco in 1536.
Choquequirao is
constructed from worked rectangular blocks of brittle metamorphic
schist and Quartzite giving the site a distinctively different
appearance from the Limestone/andesite construction of Inca Cusco or
the polygonal granite temples of Machu Picchu. Because of this and
difficulties reaching the site, it has largely been overlooked since
Machu Picchu discoverer, Hiram Bingham visited it in 1909.
Intrigued by the
apparent similarity of construction in photos of Chachapoya sites in
northern Peru to that of Choquequirao and a nearby temple site, I
discussed my observation with Cusco archaeologist Perci Paz. He
shared his thinking that Chachapoya mitayos, workers imported by the
Inca from distant parts of the empire, may have helped construct
Choquequirao. This was all the motivation that I needed to organized
a June expedition to explore this thesis.
The northern Andes
mountains of Peru were home to the Chachapoya culture, one of
several powerful city states absorbed by the Inca during imperial
expansion under Topa Inca in the late 15th century. First visited by
a detachment of Spanish under Hernando de Soto in December, 1532,
Chachapoyas was not completely conquered until the capture of the
last Inca, Tupac Amaru, in the jungles of Vilcabamba in 1572. Little
is known about the Chachapoya and their massive archaeological
monuments. Only vague references from Garcilaso de La Vega and early
historical writers have survived the ensuing centuries. We hoped to
unravel a part of the mystery that remains of this enigmatic region
and its lost civilization.
In 1995, Frank Ciampa,
an American explorer sponsored by Gene Savoy's Andean Explorer's
Club, located a pre-Inca temple/city complex in a remote high cloud
forest in northern Peru. Frank and I found each other through the
internet which soon led to a plan to combine a visit to Frank's
unreported find along with my proposed studies.
Library research and a
review of sources soon revealed that very little information is
available and few serious studies have been undertaken. The best
known work is American explorer Gene Savoy's interesting `Antisuyo',
the account of his El Dorado Expeditions of the late 1960s which,
unfortunately, most researchers believe lacks credibility. Peter
Lerche, a German anthropologist who has lived and studied in the
area for many years has published two short books and Peruvian
archaeologist, Federico Kauffmann Doig has written several papers.
The most informative
material that I happened upon was a well researched composite paper
by Keith Muscutt, Douglas Sharon and Vince Lee about their
investigations at a site called Vira Vira. This paper published in `The
South American Explorer' and in a Instituto Nacional de Cultura
bulletin references other sources and contains Architect Lee's
excellent detailed site maps and drawings.
In the short time that
we had to prepare, I was unable to obtain a copy of the results of a
five year study by the University of Colorado at another large site,
Gran Pajaten. This undoubtedly would have made interesting reading
for our daily happy hour sessions in the cook tent.
Prepared or not,
departure day soon arrived. Frank Ciampa, photo journalist Peter
Frost (`Machu Picchu Historical Sanctuary' and `Exploring Cusco'),
our Cusco field team of cooks, wranglers and a small group of
participants met me in Lima in early June.
As traditional funding
is rarely available for archaeological exploration, we invited
paying participants to help pay the costs. Although frowned upon by
professional scholars, I firmly believe that tourism funded research
can be a valuable research method and perhaps the only way to
finance exploration and subsequent protection of archaeological
areas that would otherwise remain unknown until they are located and
looted as local populations expand.
Our small team consisted
of Gill Hazel from Sydney and Fiona McKone from Dublin, veterans of
the epic 1996 expedition to Choquequirao. On that trip, we were
forced to retrace our way from the site by the way we had come, some
seven days over a most remote and precipitous part of the Andes. A
massive landslide destroyed the shorter trail out to our waiting
transport as we slept the last night at the ruins. The result was a
forced march retreat on very short rations adding an unplanned week
to everyone's vacation. Robin Kraemer, recently retired (and
relocated) police inspector from Hong Kong and his good humored wife,
Chris completed the team.
Starting with a visit to Cajamarca, where Atahualpa Inca was
captured, ransomed and executed by the Pizarros in 1532. we
continuing over the Andes to the Maranon River, great tributary to
the Amazon. Following a day of preparations at the mountain town of
Chachapoyas, we visited the massive, impressive hill top fortress
site of Kuelap before plunging on foot and horseback into the wild
cloud forest mountains of the eastern most range of the Andes.
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