Ruins Found In Peruvian Mountains Hold Clues To Ancient Civilization

On January 13th, at the Institute of Andean Studies conference, Keith Muscutt, Assistant Dean of the Arts at the University of California Santa Cruz, announced that the ruins found on the eastern slope of the Andes Mountains may contain new insight into the location of the ancient pre-Columbian Chachapoya civilization that flourished between 800 AD and the mid 1470s.

The ruin, named Huaca la Penitenciara, “The Penitentiary,” due to the formidable height of the outer walls, includes a large ceremonial platform overlooking a plaza and a number of rectangular and circular buildings.

Muscutt told Outside Online that the ruins were first discovered in August by local resident Octavio Añazco and his two sons during a search for a stray animal. Octavio is coincidentally the direct descendant of legendary Peruvian explorer Don Benigno Añazco, featured in Outside’s “Peruvian Gothic” (November 1996). After discovering the ruins, the Añazcos alerted Muscutt, a well-known Chachapoya expert who has spent the last 30 years exploring the region.

The five-month lapse between the discovery and the official announcement was necessary, according to Muscutt, to ensure that the information was presented first to a “responsible audience of experts and researchers.”

The ruins are located on a plateau roughly 6,000 feet above sea level, a surprisingly lower elevation than Kuelpa, the famous Chachapoya mountain fortress that sits at 10,000 feet, overlooking the Utcabamba River. This new discovery contradicts earlier assumptions about the Chachapoya by suggesting that they were linked more closely to the Amazonian lowlands than previously thought.

“It was originally believed that there was an impenetrable barrier between highland and lowland cultures in the Amazon drainage”, Muscutt told Outside Online, “but over the last 50 years, we have found that to be a myth. This new discovery is just another link.”

According to Muscutt, little information is known about this remote ancient culture, but clues from the chronicles of early Spanish explorers and information gathered from Incan history have helped to piece together part of the puzzle.

The Chachapoya, known as “Cloud Warriors,” are said to have ruled the northeastern Peruvian Andes until their conquest by the Inca in the early 1470s. The Spanish conquest and European diseases killed off the remaining survivors in the early 1500s.

Famous for circular construction and masonry friezes, the Chachapoya people used artistic and architectural techniques unlike those of other regional groups. The stone masonry found at the new site mirrors traditional Chachapoya techniques.

Muscutt told Outside Online that the structures are thought to be ceremonial in nature or possibly the home of Chachapoya leaders. “The plaza looks to be an assembly space,” Muscutt said, “and the upper platform could very possibly have been used for rituals.” Hidden under overgrown forest, the ruins are said to have been last used roughly 500 years ago.

The site has been registered with the proper Peruvian authorities and Muscutt believes the next step will be an appropriately authorized archeological study to evaluate possible conservation issues that may play a part in the excavation.

Muscutt told Outside Online that he is currently working with GRB Entertainment and the Discovery Channel to raise funds for the study of the site. The ruins are also slated to be featured in a Discovery Channel series to be aired next year.[link]