Garcia surprises Sweden with plans for legal action to recover Paracas textiles

President Alan Garcia announced Monday that Peru is to begin legal action against the city of Gothenburg in Sweden over the return of 100 items from the Paracas culture, state news agency Andina reported. 

The announcement, made at a conference on international cooperation for the protection and repatriation of cultural heritage, came as a surprise to Gothenburg authorities who were already in good negotiations with Peruvian diplomats in Stockholm. Read more…

Celebrations for Machu Picchu anniversary ready to begin

Celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the rediscovery of Machu Picchu are ready to begin on Saturday, the head of the commission responsible for organizing the festivities, Ricardo Vega, said.

“We are all ready, even though there are always last minute logistical difficulties, but I think they can be overcome,” state news agency Andina reported Vega as saying. “We feel happy with the team of workers and the coordination with the Cuzco authorities.”

The celebrations of American historian and explorer Hiram Bingham’s rediscovery in 1911 of the ancient Machu Picchu ruins, which are today Peru’s top tourist attraction and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will begin with a photo exhibition called Remembrance of Machu Picchu. Read more…

Machu Picchu, Maize and the Advantage of Backwardness: More Comments

Nick Asheshov’s article on Machu Picchu, Maize and the Advantage of Backwardness has triggered comments from a former Central Bank president,  British and American archaeologists, an explorer, and an author and film-maker. 

The following are the most recent comments in this ongoing conversation:

Graham Thiele, at the International Potato Centre, Lima, is concerned that “a reader could get the wrong end of the stick and think potatoes are not important in the Andes.

“The article appears to say that maize is superior in an absolute sense to potato, but my argument was more nuanced. Potatoes would still have been a key part of local food systems but because of bulkiness are not suitable for longer distance trade and surplus extraction. Hence the potato, then as now, could have been a Read more…

COUNTRY NOTES: Machu Picchu, Maize and the Advantage of Backwardness

By Nicholas Asheshov

– Special for the Machu Picchu Centennial –

Machu Picchu and the Inca Empire were the creation of an import from Central America, maize, and a dramatic climate shift that turned the Andean highlands from inhospitable wet-and-cold to pleasant, as it is today, dry-and-warm.

For more than half a millenium before this shift the high Andes had been miserable.  With the new dry-and-warm, starting around 1000 AD, a backwoods tribe, the Incas, put together the new climate and technology breakthroughs and by 1500AD had produced the world’s most go-ahead empire, heavily populated and larger, richer, healthier and better organized than Ming Dynasty China and the Ottoman Empire, its nearest contemporaries. Read more…

Machu Picchu remains from Yale arrive in Cusco

Archaeological remains from Machu Picchu, which recently returned to Peru from Yale University, have arrived in Cusco where they will be displayed at the Casa Concha, owned by the Universidad Nacional San Antonio Abad de Cusco (UNSAAC).

The pieces arrived in Lima in early April and were put on display at the Government Palace before being re-packed and flown to Cusco by the Peruvian Air Force accompanied by Culture Minister Juan Ossio.

Cusco authorities applauded the return of the artifacts on Wednesday. “Brothers, today we are happy. Each one of us is going to sing and clap because the pieces are Read more…

Inca Rebellion of 1536 Archaeological Tour

Scientists unearth 20 million year old fossilized brain in Amazonas

Peruvian scientists have unearthed a fossilized brain of a mammal that lived in the country’s northern jungle regions some 20 million years ago, daily El Comercio reported.

The fossil was found in the basin of the Santiago River in the northern department of Amazonas on May 12 by a team led by paleontologist Klaus Hönninger.

“It is the first time I’ve seen something like this, so well conserved and whole,” said Hönninger, who is the director of the Meyer Hönninger museum in Chiclayo.

It was preserved thanks to its coverage by sediment with a high level of carbonate, he added.

The fossil measures 12cm wide, 11cm long and 9cm high, which is about the size of a cow’s brain, said Hönninger. Some aspects of the fossilized brain indicate that it could have belonged to a primate, although other features support the idea that it was from a quadruped.

HISTORY OF PERU SERIES – PART 9: Metallurgy, Jewelry and Gold

By Paul Goulder –Special to the Peruvian Times —

This week we examine what tools the historian possesses to analyze the impact of new technologies, particularly in metallurgy. In terms of a timeline, this part starts in an age of copper and ends as bronze makes an appearance. But all the time it is gold that steals the show. Read more…

HISTORY OF PERU SERIES: The Peruvian Times Guide to the “End Menu”

The following links are sources for stories, videos, audios and other materials that provide a rich background to Paul Goulder’s History of Peru Series in the Peruvian Times. Read more…

Inauguration of Machu Picchu artifacts in Cusco planned for July 7

The inauguration of the exhibit in Cusco of archaeological remains from Machu Picchu, which were recently returned to Peru from Yale University, is scheduled for July 7, state news agency Andina reported.

Over 300 pieces, which are currently on display in the halls of the government palace in Lima, are expected to arrive in Cusco in the second week of June. The artifacts will be displayed in the Casa Concha, owned by the Universidad Nacional San Antonio Abad de Cusco (UNSAAC), which will house a new museum and research center. Read more…

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