Lost Inca city found

LONDON, Nov. 6 — An Anglo-American team of explorers has found Inca
ruins lost for centuries in the Peruvian jungles despite being within
sight of the key religious center at Machu Picchu. Using infrared aerial
photography to penetrate the forest canopy, the team led by Briton Hugh
Thomson and American Gary Zeigler located the ruins at Llactapata, 50
miles northwest of the ancient Inca capital Cusco.

       "THIS IS a very important discovery. It is very close to
Machu Picchu and aligned with it. This adds significantly to our
knowledge about Machu Picchu," Thomson told Reuters by telephone on
Thursday. "Llactapata adds to its significance."
       The site was first mentioned by explorer Hiram Bingham,
the discoverer of Machu Picchu, in 1912. But he was very vague about its
location, and the ruins have lain undisturbed ever since.
       After locating the city from the air the expedition,
which only last year found another lost Inca town at Cota Coca 60 miles
(100 kilometers) west of Cusco, used machetes to hack through the jungle
to reach it, 9,000 feet (3,000 meters) up the side of a mountain.
       They found stone buildings including a solar temple and
houses covering several square kilometres in the same alignment with the
Pleiades and the June solstice sunrise as Machu Picchu, which was a
sacred center.
       "This gives the site great ritual importance," Thomson
said.
     Not only was Llactapata probably a ceremonial site in its own
right, excavations suggested that it might also have acted as a granary
and dormitory for its sacred neighbor, he added.
       The Incas abandoned their towns and cities and retreated
from the treasure-hunting Spanish invaders after the Conquistadors
captured and executed the last Inca leader, Tupac Amaru, in 1572.
       Some of the cities have since been rediscovered, but many
more are believed to lie hidden in the dense jungle, almost impossible
to detect without new technology or a chance encounter.

       "The fact that we have found two in two years means there
could be many more out there," Thomson said.
       He said the use for the first time of an infrared camera
to locate a set of ruins from the air had been a breakthrough, but one
that did not make the humble machete redundant.
       "It makes wielding the machete slightly more purposeful
— at least you know where you are going and that there is something
definitely in front of you — but it certainly won't put it out of
business," Thomson said.
       
       © 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly
prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
       
            





Mike Ruggeri's Ancient America and Mesoamerica News and Links
http://community-2.webtv.net/Topiltzin-2091/AncientAmericaand

Ancient America Museum Exhibitions, Lectures and Conferences
http://community-2.webtv.net/Topiltzin-2091/AncientAmerica