Lost Inca city "El Dorado" discovered in Peruvian Amazon!

Lima, Jul 27, 2002 (EFE via COMTEX) -- An international team of explorers claims to have found the legendary Inca city of gold that the Spanish knew as "El Dorado," deep in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon.

The quest began on June 30, when more than two dozen researchers began combing the wild and unexplored jungle region along the basin of the Madre de Dios River.

El Dorado, called "Paititi" by the region's Indian population, is known as the last bastion of the Incas as they sought refuge from advancing Spanish conquistadors.

The leader of the expedition, the Polish-Italian journalist and explorer Jacek Palkiewicz, told EFE Saturday he was very pleased with the expedition and felt "certain" he had found El Dorado.

After two years of research and exploration, Palkiewicz said, the lost city had been found in an area adjoining the Manu national park, southeast of Lima.

The journey to El Dorado has allowed the researchers to confirm all the written accounts and myths surrounding the lost city, including reports that it was a 10-day walk from Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Inca empire.

Palkiewicz said he was most surprised to learn that stories of the city being under a lake were completely accurate.

The lake has been discovered in a four-square-kilometer (1.5-square-mile) plateau totally covered in vegetation.

Russian specialists taking part in the expedition used terrestrial radar to confirm the existence of an underwater network of caverns and tunnels.

According to legend, the treasures of the last Inca rulers were buried under the lake.

He added that a final extensive expedition would be carried out in October and would include scientists specializing in the study of caves.

Palkiewicz said he had found traces of pre-Inca constructions, which indicate that the Incas had only begun to colonize the area shortly before arrival of the Spanish conquistadors.

The man described by Britain's Guardian newspaper as a "self-styled academic" did not rule out the existence of other Inca constructions, but said the dense jungle and the region's torrential rains prevented the team from investigating further.

The expedition, which was made up of scientists from Argentina, Italy, Poland, Russia and Peru, used terrestrial radar and satellites to locate the lost city.

The journey was planned after two previous visits to the area and was given a further boost by the discovery of a 16th-century manuscript ostensibly proving that El Dorado had been discovered by Jesuit missionaries.

In the manuscript, which was found in the Vatican archives of the Society of Jesus, the pope authorizes the Jesuits to evangelize the Indians of Paititi.

Palkiewicz, a teacher of survival skills who has written some 20 books about his journeys to the most remote areas of the planet, has extensive experience in the Amazon jungles.

In 1996, he led another expedition that succeeded in locating the true source of the Amazon River.

His most recent expedition had a budget of more than $1 million and received the symbolic support of Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, Poland's Aleksander Kwasniewski and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Efforts to locate the legendary city began with the arrival of Spanish conquerors in 1532.

Rumors of a jungle city that supposedly held priceless treasures to be used to pay the ransom of the last Inca ruler, Atahualpa, prompted searches of the region.

Many previous El Dorado expeditions ended in disaster on account of the region's hostile environment and difficult terrain.

One such failed expedition took place in 1925, when famous British explorer Col. Peter Fawcett disappeared in western Brazil while looking for the city.

In 1970, a French-American expedition led by Serge Debru disappeared, most likely at the hands of Huachipairi Indians.

A 1997 expedition led by Norwegian anthropologist Lars Hafksjold also disappeared after setting out for the Madidi River, not far from the site of Palkiewicz's discovery.

Scientist: Legendary City of El Dorado Exists
By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News

Feb. 25 — El Dorado, the fabled city of gold, did exist and was even evangelized by Jesuit missionaries, according to the findings of a Lima University archaeologist.

Called "Paititi" by the Incas and "El Dorado" by the Spaniards, the mythical city is thought to have been the last place of refuge for the Incas when they fled with their treasures ahead of the advancing Spanish conquerors in 1532.

Mario Polia, an Italian archaeologist who teaches at Lima's Pontifical Catholic University, discovered an ancient document that describes a city with walls covered in gold leaf.

"Paititi is not a myth, it really existed. It was discovered at the end of the 16th century by missionaries of the Society of Jesus, who converted the king and his court," Polia wrote in the latest issue of the archaeological review Archeo.
The "report of a miracle that took place in the Kingdom of Paititi for God's mercy" is part of a collection called "Peruana Historia" (Peruvian history), kept in the Roman Archives of the Society of Jesus.

It tells of the extraordinary encounter of Father Andrea Lopez with the inhabitants of Paititi, "a very wealthy city adorned with gold, silver and precious stones."

According to the report, the order's Father General informed the Pope of the discovery, asking and obtaining permission to evangelize the area. Polia believes that the Vatican never revealed Paititi's location, fearing a gold rush and mass hysteria.

El Dorado has lured many explorer over the past five centuries: among them famed British army surveyor Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett, who left in search of Paititi in 1925, and more recently, a 1972 Franco- American expedition led by Bob Nichols, and the 1997 exploration of Norwegian anthropologist Lars Hafksjold.

The latest explorer to set off in search of the legend is Jacek Palkiewicz, best known for discovering the real source of the Amazon river in 1996. Palkiewicz left last week for a reconnaissance trip into the inaccessible jungles of the Madre de Dios River basin. He will then begin a systematic search in June with the help of state-of-the art technology.

"I have been working on this project for two years. I even pinpointed a waterfall and a square lake which, according to legend, lead to Paititi. There are extremely good chances I will find El Dorado," Palkiewicz told Discovery News.

But Polia is skeptical. "This sounds like another groundless claim. I know for sure Paititi is not in the Madre de Dios area, namely where everybody has been looking," he said.

Brian S. Bauer, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and one of the leading authorities on the Inca, is also skeptical.

"All this only shows that the dream of finding a lost city of gold is as strong for us today as it was for the Spaniards in the 17th century, " he said.

Seems Palkiewicz's critics have a little egg on their faces.

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"El Dorado" discovered in Peruvian Amazon, explorers claim

Story Filed: Saturday, July 27, 2002 5:02 PM EST