Lost Incan settlement found
The Associated Press
19mar02
EXPLORERS have found the extensive ruins of an Inca village, complete with human remains,
sprawled spectacularly across a mountain in southern Peru, the expedition leaders said.
The ancient settlement clings to the slopes of a rugged peak in the remote Vilcabamba
region of the Andes Mountains where the Incas hid after the Spanish conquest. It consists
of more than 100 structures, including a ridge-top truncated pyramid, ceremonial platforms
and an 8km-long channel.
British author Peter Frost, who led an eight-member expedition to the area last year, said
it is the largest Inca site found since 1964, when American explorer Gene Savoy discovered
Vilcabamba, considered the capital of the empire's jungle refuge.
"Few, if any, Spanish conquistadors ever reached the southern part of
Vilcabamba," Frost said in an interview. "This site may ultimately yield a
record of Inca civilization from the very beginning to the very end, undisturbed by
European contact - an unparalleled opportunity."
The Incas ruled Peru from the 1430s until the arrival of the Spaniards in 1532,
constructing stone-block cities and roads and developing a highly organised and
militarised society.
The settlement is 480km southeast of Lima and about 40km southwest of Machu Picchu, Peru's
most famous Inca ruins and its top tourist destination.
Frost, 56, who writes about Inca history and guides hiking tours in the Andes, first saw
ruins in 1999 while leading an adventure trek nearby. He returned last May with a
month-long expedition sponsored by the National Geographic Society.
"The site turned out to be far more extensive than we expected," said Alfredo
Valencia, a Peruvian archaeologist who participated in the dig. "It's spread over 6
sq km and is up around 3,300m on very steep terrain, and its natural beauty is
stunning."
Frost believes the Incas, who worshipped snowcapped mountain peaks, settled there because
of the spectacular views of surrounding ranges. He also thinks the inhabitants worked at a
silver mine about 1 km away.
Since the expedition, the team has been studying pottery, stone instruments and human
remains collected at the site. The ceramics were decorated with crisscross designs typical
of the Incas.
The site, a four-day walk from the nearest road, has several cylindrical, aboveground
funeral towers, where elite may have been entombed. The mausoleums had been heavily
looted, Frost said, but skeletons were found in other underground chambers. END OF REPORT
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