Three archaeological sites, ceramics found in the northern highlands of Peru

A team of specialists from the Decentralized Cultural Department of Cajamarca has found three archaeological sites and ceramic evidence in the Llagadén community of the Magdalena district in Cajamarca, reports El Comercio.

Ceramic vase dating back to about 2,000 years ago discovered
 at one of the sites [Credit: El Comercio/Difusión]

The evidence includes fragments of pottery and a series of shelters, dating back to 2,000 years ago and could possibly correspond to the initial or middle Cajamarca cultures. They were found on a farm in Llagadén.

El Comercio claims the three archaeological sites found by specialists are located in the hills of Congona and Naranjo, and in the area known as San Sebastian of Choropampa.

Archaeologist Francisco Esquerre said that the procedure from this point on will now include establishing coordinates of the archaeological sites and then begin excavations, reports El Comercio.

He told the newspaper that unfortunately some of the important evidence was destroyed, though there are still many pieces intact.

Author: Hillary Ojeda | Source: Peru this Week [August 17, 2015]

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Cahuachi Sanctuary is bigger than Chan Chan, says archaeologist

“Cahuachi Sanctuary is bigger than Chan Chan,” says Italian archaeologist, Giuseppe Orefici, according to a press release provided to Living in Peru.

Cahuachi, in Peru, was a major ceremonial center of the Nazca culture, 
based from 450 BC to 450 AD in the coastal area of the
Central Andes [Credit: Canatur/Carlos Chuquín]

The archaeologist has been excavating and conducting research on the ceremonial site in Nazca, southern Peru, for the last couple decades. As a major proponent of research and preservation of the site, he expresses concern over its future with the climate phenomenon of El Niño on the horizon.

Cahuachi was once the capital of the Nazca culture, from the period 450 B.C.- 450 A.D..

“It is the largest ceremonial center in the world and of this dimension, there are none like it,” says Orefici. In other words, it is the largest ceremonial center made of mud, and larger than the pre-Colombian citadel of Chan Chan located in Trujillo, northern Peru.

“The influence of Cahuachi arrived until the outskirts of the Tablada de Lurin (Lima), and to the east reached Huanuco, Huancayo (Junin) and Ayacucho, while to the south, it spread to the town of Acari (Arequipa),” explained the Orefici.

Reconstruction of Cahuachi Sanctuary, 
Nazca, Peru [Credit: Gnosis]

In the two decades of work he’s conducted, Orefici and his team have only excavated 1% of the entire 24 km2 of the sanctuary.

“It has been a job of 20 years and my preoccupation is the imminent arrival of El Niño that could crack its principal structures. I can indicate that each 500 years a Mega El Niño arrives and I believe that we are in the period of one Mega violent Niño,” said Orefici.

So today, the archaeologist dedicates himself to the conservation and promotion of the archaeological complex.

He reported that about 150 tourists have visited the archaeological site daily so far in the month of August. They are mostly European tourists and they express a lot of interest in the site.

However, he said that despite this interest to the sanctuary, there are still infrastructure improvements lacking. For example, he said the road to Cahuachi needs to improve, among other developments.

Author: Hillary Ojeda | Source: Peru This Week [August 17, 2015]

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Peru uses drones to protect archaeological sites

Peru, a country with a rich historical heritage, has added drones to archaeology's classical tools for surveying, registering and protecting archaeological sites from climate- and human-caused damage.

Drones can reduce explorations by months and even years to days and weeks 
[Credit: Reuters/Mariana Bazo]

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, has so far helped in registering 375 archaeological sites, or 63.5 percent of those in the Lima metropolitan area, and most of them are located among buildings and avenues in the city of more than 9 million people.

While a drone hovers above a pre-Columbian truncated pyramid in the Lima district of San Borja, the project coordinator at the Culture Ministry, Aldo Watanave, described for EFE how difficult it was to develop a registry of archaeological sites before the arrival of drones.

"Back then, to obtain aerial images, we had to check records of aerial photography from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, or we were required to wait until a satellite orbited over a specific area and took a picture," Watanave said.

Watanave recalled the long hours of work required to prepare scale and 3D maps of an archaeological site on the ministry's equipment.

Almost three years into the program, there are already nine drones that the archaeology team can use to register sites, a job that continues on a day-to-day basis.

The fleet consists of four octocopter drones (eight propellers) used to take photos and five quadcopters (four propellers) used to shoot video.

The workload has been reduced by the drones and now a single expert can operate the device's controls while a co-worker controls altitude and speed via a screen.

Where the traditional method for producing a map might take two to three days in the past, "now it can be done in a matter of minutes," Watanave said.

In Cajamarquilla, built in A.D. 600-730 and the largest adobe citadel on Peru's central coast, drones detected trash dumps on the roadsides.

As efforts continue to preserve Peru's architectural heritage, drones are allowing the detection of damage caused by people who enter archaeological areas illegally and the adoption of preventive measures in the face of climate events, such as "El Niño."

Author: Carolina Cusirramos | Source: EFE [August 13, 2015]

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