It looks like a builder’s yard but what is now little more than a mound of dust and earth was once a significant structure, part of the Moche culture — one of Peru’s most complex and enigmatic ancient civilisations.
The ruins of Galindo, outside the Peruvian city of Trujillo, some 560 kilometers north of Lima have long given up their secrets. Great pits have been dug into the earth and walls to expose deep layers of adobe bricks. The structure’s center has collapsed, leaving a crater where a tapering tower once stood.
Some holes are over four meters deep, abandoned when it became apparent that nothing of interest was to be found. Thanks to successive waves of huaqueros (looters) and lack of interest on the part of the authorities over the years, it will never be known what happened here when the Moche dominated Peru’s northern coast for some 650 years until their decline in 700 A.D.
Galindo is one of 250 historic sites in this part of Peru, but only five have enforced protected status.
“There are three of us and one truck for the region of La Libertad. It’s insufficient, but we do everything possible,” said Montes de Oca, a policeman in the department of environmental protection, who patrols a region with a population of about a million people.
The damage is not only from looters. After a catastrophic earthquake in 1970, nearby villagers had to resort to recycling bricks from the ruins to rebuild their homes.
“It’s impossible to guess how much was taken because we don’t know how much was there,” said professor Ricardo Gamarra, director of a 20-year-old conservation project.
Ten miles from Galindo, Gamarra and his team are restoring the colossal site at Huaca del Sol and Huaca de la Luna, two pyramid-like monuments which were once the largest pre-Columbian structures in the Americas and served as the administrative centre of the Moche.
When they started the work, the site had fallen into decay. But unlike the devastated Galindo site, here the team has been able to uncover fresh insights into the Moche way of life – and death.
Excavations revealed a vivid picture of a powerful civilization. The Moche are best known for their heavily stylized ceramics and friezes, with intricate depictions of a complex spiritualism, underpinned by intriguing and often brutal ceremonial practices celebrating war, conquest, human sacrifice and eroticism.
Friezes uncovered in a 175-metre long ceremonial plaza include characters known as the Beheading Spider, the Mythical Being and the God of the Mountains, all three of which feature severed heads to emphasize how central human sacrifice was to the Moche way of life. At ground level is one frieze showing a continuous march of triumphant warriors and their unfortunate prisoners, bound by the neck as they are led to a certain death at the hands of the high priests.
Despite Gamarra’s work, threats remain, including the prospect of mass tourism.
“We are now fighting the regional government which wants to develop the road to this site to encourage tourism. In Machu Picchu you have people walking over and eroding original stone. We’re not ready for that level of tourism here,” he said.
What he does welcome, and actively promotes, are visits from enthusiasts and other interested travellers, who can help promote his cause in the unequal battle against the ongoing destruction of Peru’s archaeological heritage. Gamarra gives personal tours through a specialist agency called Aracari, but beyond that the director is quiet on the benefits that mass tourism brings to vulnerable sites like his.
His project accommodates around 120,000 visitors a year, mostly from the United States and Germany. Fewer than 30 percent are Peruvian. Gamarra wants to cap the number as his team continues with the task of investigating the 250-acre site, gradually piecing together the remaining fragments of an ancient world.
Gamarra has run into opposition for his strict stance on tourism.
A small market outside the site’s main gates does a swift trade in replica ceramics, based on items recovered from within the ruins. Jesus García, a professional artisan fires and paints his ceramics by hand, which he can sell to visitors for 10 Peruvian soles (about $3).
“The tourists bring in money, they pay for the workers, services, restaurants, hotels. There are more people for us to sell to. Before, the huaqueros took things to sell, for necessity, for work. Now it’s illegal and anyway, we don’t need it,” García said.
Author: Matthew Barker | Source: Latin American Dispatch [April 28, 2011]
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| Ruins near Cusco in Peru [Credit: lanz/Flickr] |
Some holes are over four meters deep, abandoned when it became apparent that nothing of interest was to be found. Thanks to successive waves of huaqueros (looters) and lack of interest on the part of the authorities over the years, it will never be known what happened here when the Moche dominated Peru’s northern coast for some 650 years until their decline in 700 A.D.
Galindo is one of 250 historic sites in this part of Peru, but only five have enforced protected status.
“There are three of us and one truck for the region of La Libertad. It’s insufficient, but we do everything possible,” said Montes de Oca, a policeman in the department of environmental protection, who patrols a region with a population of about a million people.
The damage is not only from looters. After a catastrophic earthquake in 1970, nearby villagers had to resort to recycling bricks from the ruins to rebuild their homes.
“It’s impossible to guess how much was taken because we don’t know how much was there,” said professor Ricardo Gamarra, director of a 20-year-old conservation project.
Ten miles from Galindo, Gamarra and his team are restoring the colossal site at Huaca del Sol and Huaca de la Luna, two pyramid-like monuments which were once the largest pre-Columbian structures in the Americas and served as the administrative centre of the Moche.
When they started the work, the site had fallen into decay. But unlike the devastated Galindo site, here the team has been able to uncover fresh insights into the Moche way of life – and death.
Excavations revealed a vivid picture of a powerful civilization. The Moche are best known for their heavily stylized ceramics and friezes, with intricate depictions of a complex spiritualism, underpinned by intriguing and often brutal ceremonial practices celebrating war, conquest, human sacrifice and eroticism.
Friezes uncovered in a 175-metre long ceremonial plaza include characters known as the Beheading Spider, the Mythical Being and the God of the Mountains, all three of which feature severed heads to emphasize how central human sacrifice was to the Moche way of life. At ground level is one frieze showing a continuous march of triumphant warriors and their unfortunate prisoners, bound by the neck as they are led to a certain death at the hands of the high priests.
Despite Gamarra’s work, threats remain, including the prospect of mass tourism.
“We are now fighting the regional government which wants to develop the road to this site to encourage tourism. In Machu Picchu you have people walking over and eroding original stone. We’re not ready for that level of tourism here,” he said.
What he does welcome, and actively promotes, are visits from enthusiasts and other interested travellers, who can help promote his cause in the unequal battle against the ongoing destruction of Peru’s archaeological heritage. Gamarra gives personal tours through a specialist agency called Aracari, but beyond that the director is quiet on the benefits that mass tourism brings to vulnerable sites like his.
His project accommodates around 120,000 visitors a year, mostly from the United States and Germany. Fewer than 30 percent are Peruvian. Gamarra wants to cap the number as his team continues with the task of investigating the 250-acre site, gradually piecing together the remaining fragments of an ancient world.
Gamarra has run into opposition for his strict stance on tourism.
A small market outside the site’s main gates does a swift trade in replica ceramics, based on items recovered from within the ruins. Jesus García, a professional artisan fires and paints his ceramics by hand, which he can sell to visitors for 10 Peruvian soles (about $3).
“The tourists bring in money, they pay for the workers, services, restaurants, hotels. There are more people for us to sell to. Before, the huaqueros took things to sell, for necessity, for work. Now it’s illegal and anyway, we don’t need it,” García said.
Author: Matthew Barker | Source: Latin American Dispatch [April 28, 2011]