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This documentary rewrites the history of South America: Did Roman slaves escape to the "New World" 2000 years ago?In 146 B.C., Rome attacked Carthage. The fate of the survivors: they became Roman slaves. This thrilling South America centric documentary poses a thought-provoking question: Could some of these Carthaginian refugees have fled their Roman captors, journeying across the Atlantic to seek refuge in the untamed landscapes of South America?Unveiling for the first time, compelling evidence that sheds new light on this hypothesis, our documentary delves into fresh archaeological findings in the lush Amazon, employs cutting-edge genetic analyses of South Americas contemporary...

Pre-Inca Ruins Emerging From Peru's Cloud Forests John Roach for National Geographic News September 16, 2004 On the eastern slope of the Andes mountains in northern Peru, forests cloak the ruins of a pre-Inca civilization, the size and scope of which explorers and archaeologists are only now beginning to understand. Known as the Chachapoya, the civilization covered an estimated 25,000 square miles (65,000 square kilometers). The Chachapoya, distinguished by fair skin and great height, lived primarily on ridges and mountaintops in circular stone houses. Sean Savoy, leader of the Gran Saposoa-El Dorado IV Expedition (July-August 2004), points out a stone...

A large tomb dating from ancient Inca times was found in the southern sector of Pueblo Alto of Kuelap fortress, located in the department of Amazonas, director of restoration and conservation Alfredo Narvaez announced. He told Andina that in the vicinity of the tomb, of which excavation ended on Monday, fine ceramic offerings from the Tahuantinsuyo (Inca Empire) were also found, which apparently were taken there from Cusco. "This tomb has an unusual dimension and was sealed by a thick stuffing. As we were cleaning, we run into materials that we had never found before in other structures of...

Clues from the mists of time Liliana Nieto del Rio / For The TimesThis is the where the “cloud warriors” of ancient Peru once lived. Known from colonial chronicles as tall and fierce warriors who long resisted the Inca, the Chachapoya were also far-ranging merchants and powerful shamans. Recent digs at this majestic site have turned up scores of skeletons and thousands of artifacts, shedding new light on these myth-shrouded early Americans. Peru's ancient 'cloud warriors' put their dead in towering walls. The Chachapoya gave way to the Inca and Spanish, but first they flourished. By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los...

Peruvian archaeologists find 40 1,200-year-old mummies www.chinaview.cn 2007-09-20 10:55:40 LIMA, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Archaeologists in Peru have found 40 mummies dating from the 1,200-year-old Chachapoyas culture in the Amazon fortress of Kuelap, project leader Alfredo Narvaez told local media on Wednesday. He said the mummies were discovered alongside Inca pottery, and that they showed signs of being affected by a fire in the archaeological complex, some 1,409 km northeast to the nation's capital. He said the bodies had been buried under a platform of 24 meters in diameter in the El Tintero structure during a dig of the Kuelap...

Kuelap – the Machu Picchu of Northern Peru.The mysterious super fortress of the Chachapoyan Cloud PeopleKuelap is the largest building structure of the Americas. It is estimated to contain 3 times more material than Egypt’s largest pyramid. Peru considers Kuelap to be as good as Machu Picchu and is trying to make this its equal 2nd major destination. It is twice as old as the Incas and in remarkably better condition before restoration. Kuelap is an unknown giant just waking up. Peru is a huge country the size of the 5 west coast states, California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, and Montana....