Here is a fascinating story that just surfaced about the Chachapoyas:
An ancient lost city has been discovered in the remote Amazonian rainforest of north-east Peru, archaeologists have announced.
The fortified citadel appears to be from the pre-Inca era and may be linked to the country’s legendary ‘Cloud People’.
The main encampment comprises circular stone houses overgrown by lush jungle over an area of 12 acres, said archaeologist Benedict Goicochea Perez.
The citadel sits atop a chasm that the former inhabitants may have used as a lookout to spy on approaching enemies, she added.
Rock paintings cover some of the fortifications, and next to the dwellings are large platforms believed to have been used to grind seeds and wild plants for food and medicine, he continued.
It is tucked away in the remote Jamalca district of Utcubamba province, part of the northern Amazonas department, said Jamalca Mayor Ricardo Cabrera Bravo, who had joined the expedition.
The area, about 497 miles northeast of Lima, is famed for its vast, isolated natural beauty, surrounded by verdant foliage and soaring waterfalls, said Cabrera Bravo.
The citadel likely belonged to the Chachapoyas civilization – an ancient people whose glory days over a thousand years ago pre-date the hegemony of the powerful Incas.
The Chachapoyas, also called the Warriors of the Clouds, were an Andean people living in the cloud forests of the Amazonian region of present-day Peru
The Chachapoyas culture (known as the Cloud Forest people) also built the imposing Kuelap fortress atop a mountain in Utcubamba, which can only be compared in scale to the Inca’s Machu Picchu retreat, built hundreds of years later.
The Chachapoyas, also called the Warriors of the Clouds, were an Andean people living in the cloud forests of the Amazonian region of present-day Peru.
The Incas conquered their civilization shortly before the arrival of the Spanish in Peru.
When the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, the Chachapoyas were one of the many nations ruled by the Inca Empire.
Their incorporation was not easy, due to their constant resistance to the Inca troops.
Since the Incas and the Spanish conquistadors were the principal sources of information on the Chachapoyas, unbiased first-hand knowledge of the people remains scarce.
cityThe city was found in Amazonian rainforest in northern Peru.
Writings by the major chroniclers of the time, were based on fragmentary second-hand accounts.
Much of what is known about the Chachapoyas culture is based on archaeological evidence from ruins, pottery, tombs and other artifacts.
The chronicler Pedro Cieza de León offers some picturesque notes about the Chachapoyas.
He writes: ‘They are the whitest and most handsome of all the people that I have seen in Indies, and their wives were so beautiful that because of their gentleness, many of them deserved to be the Incas’ wives and to also be taken to the Sun Temple.
‘The women and their husbands always dressed in woolen clothes and in their heads they wear their llautos, which are a sign they wear to be known everywhere.’
The name Chachapoya is the name that was given to this culture by the Inca; the name that these people may have actually used to refer to themselves is not known.
The contemporary Peruvian city of Chachapoyas derives its name from the word for this ancient culture as does the defined architectural style.
Read more here.
Links:
Virtual domain of the Chachapoyas (Keith Muscutt’s photo book on the ancient civilization and its ruins)
Info on the Chachapoyas mummies
32 Khipus found at Chachapoyas burial site
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9 responses so far ↓
1 Sarsparilla // Dec 7, 2008 at 4:55 pm
The photo here is of the central houses in the FORTRESS, not village of Kuélap, near Chachapoyas. The Chachapoya people built around 3000 dwellings in the nearby Gran Vilaya jungles, most of which are not yet counted.
The “new city” discovery is near the Utcubamba river, further north in the same region – but these cities are already discovered – anyone can book a $30 a day guide to take them round them, and has been able to do so for several years. It’s the arqeologicos who are too bloody lazy to get out and count them.
As for the ‘white’ people, that was a long standing rumour about the ancient Chachapoya peoples that’s not really been substantiated. Atahualpa’s mother was reputed to be Chachapoyan. But mostly the Chachapoya sided with the Spanish to repel the hated Incan overlords.
If you visit the modern region around an administrative city, also named Chachapoyas, then you will find peruvians with blue eyes and blonde hair live in the town of Rodriguez Toribio de Mendoza. (Also unrelated to the Kuélap fortress.)
I think it’s another ‘lost tribes in peru’ hoax from the Daily Mail.
2 Barbara // Dec 7, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Sasparilla, I’ll take your word that the photo is from a different site than the one discussed in the article.
The article I’ve quoted in full is not from the Daily Mail; I quoted the DM on another site, not this one. It appears that you are responding to the DM story.
The quote in the article I’ve included says “whitest,” not “white people,” as per the quote from Dieza de Leon. Of course, as the article above mentions, information about the ethnicity of the tribe is second-hand.
3 Stuart // Dec 9, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Atahualpa’s mother was from Quito.
4 Barb // Dec 10, 2008 at 11:44 am
Stuart, would that be Raua Oclloa? I have a book of drawings by Guaman Poma that shows the 11th Inca queen having her long hair washed by servants. GP’s text reads: “Her kingdom comprised Quito, Cayambi, Huancavilica, Canari and Chachapoyas. She was very beautiful, of good size with a fine head of hair. She was very discreet and did much to help the poor.”
5 Stuart // Dec 10, 2008 at 12:47 pm
She was Huascar’s mother and Huayna Capac’s second wife. Huayna Capac spent a lot of time in Quito, which he had conquered with his father. When emperor he even lived there for a time, having a son, Atahualpa with a local princess.
It was this act, and his love for his illegitimate son, that eventually destroyed the Inca Empire in time for the Spanish to conquer it.
However, everything started going wrong when Huayca Capac’s first wife couldn’t bare children, and from there Inca customs and traditions were bent and broken again and again and again.
Make sure you get a copy of Garcilaso de la Vega, you won’t regret it. They cost about S./3.
6 Barb // Dec 10, 2008 at 7:50 pm
What a story, Stuart. You condense it well: it almost reads like the pitch for a Hollywood movie. I didn’t realize HC’s first wife’s inability to have children, along with his preference for his son by the other woman, led indirectly to the downfall of the Inca empire.
I think El Fotografo has a book by Garcilaso de la Vega somewhere in our house. Will check it out.
7 Miguel Fuentes // Dec 12, 2008 at 12:12 am
Well, they have mentioned that the mummies found had blonde hair and pale skin. Doesn’t that mean white-looking people, or does that mean they are albinos?
I can’t wait until they do a DNA test to the mummies, so that we all can find out
8 Barb // Dec 12, 2008 at 11:21 am
Yes, some scientists speculate they might have been albinos, or simply a lighter varient of indigenous people.
DNA testing would answer questions.
9 Hop Skip Jump Peru // Dec 27, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Fascinating stuff. I am dying to get up to Chachapoyas and check out Kuelap. Definitely on my 2010 list.
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