Posted on 12/03/2008 4:58:17 PM PST by bruinbirdman
Archaeologists have discovered a lost city carved into the Andes Mountains by the mysterious Chachapoya tribe.
The settlement covers some 12 acres and is perched on a mountainside in the remote Jamalca district of Utcubamba province in the northern jungles of Peru's Amazon.
Buildings carved into the Pachallama peak mountainside in Peru, by Chachapoya
The buildings found on the Pachallama peak are in remarkably good condition, estimated to be over 1,000 years old and comprised of the traditional round stone houses built by the Chachapoya, the 'Cloud Forest People'.
The area is completely overgrown with the jungle now covering much of the settlement but explorers found the walls of the buildings and rock paintings on a cliff face.
The remote nature of the site appears to have protected the site from looters as archaeologists found ceramics and undisturbed burial sites.
Archaeologist Benedicto Pérez Goicochea said: "The citadel is perched on the edge of an abyss.
"We suspect that the ancient inhabitants used this as a lookout point from where they could spot potential enemies."
The ruins were initially discovered by local people hacking through the jungle. They were drawn to the place due to the sound of a waterfall.
The local people "armed with machetes opened a path that arrived at the place where they saw a beautiful panorama, full of flowers and fauna, as well as a waterfall, some 500 metres high," said the mayor of Jamalca, Ricardo Cabrera Bravo.
Initial studies have found similarities between the new discovery and the Cloud Peoples' super fortress of Kulep, also in Utcubamba province, which is older and more extensive that the Inca Citadel of Machu Picchu, but has not been fully explored or restored.
Little is known about the Chachapoya, except that they had been
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Sounds like a wonderful experience!
Very cool.
Nothing like hacking thru the jungle or rain forest and discovering an ancient site.
fair skinned woman were prized by the Incas.. some things don’t change. ;-) (ducks)
BUMP!
I’ve been to Machu Pichu. I walked for about a mile towards Cuzco on the ancient Aztec road. This sounds very cool.
Were these guys Chinese? Lot of really light skinned Chinese, and there is very good archaeological evidence that Chinese people made it to America (back circa 5000 BC).
Some juvenile gangsta has been tagging the walls with spray paint!
Been there too, and it was very cool. The Shining Path dudes blew up the train 3 days after I was on it... so I consider myself very lucky!
it was an outpost of the refugees from Sundaland after its demise! :o
ping
It mentioned these white people were tall: evidence of WHITE white people also...with blond hair and blue and green eyes. One such collection of stories in L. Taylor Hansen's "He Walked the Americas"
Very interesting. They look similar to the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde in SW Colorado.
I would imagine his idea of "light" and our idea of "light" would be substantially different after literally years among the Indians.
There are "clear eyed" people among the Chinese. Look just like Chinese too, except they have "clear eyes".
The Japanese royal families (yup, more than one) have some "clear eyed" folks ~ look typically Japanese otherwise.
Some of them tan deeply anyway.
The Indianapolis Art Museum has a fairly large collection of Andean bowl on display. It’s the same style as these buildings. One of the bowls is clearly for containing magic mushrooms!
Looks fake.
;)
The Dutch were there first?
yitbos
Look, if you can't post a pic of Droxine, just don't post anything... /g
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