(BBC - News)
According to archaeologists, it pushes back the dawn of religion in the region by 1,000 years.
The fragment of a bowl dated to about 4,000 years ago bears the image of the Staff God, the main deity in the Andes for thousands of years.
The figure was found at a looted cemetery on the coast of Peru, 120 miles north of Lima.
The area appears to have been the ancestral home of pre-Inca civilisation.
'Icon'
"Like the cross, the Staff God is a clearly recognisable religious icon," said Jonathan Haas, MacArthur curator of North American anthropology at The Field Museum, Chicago.
"This appears to be the oldest identifiable religious icon found in the Americas.
"It indicates that organised religion began in the Andes more than 1,000 years earlier than previously thought."
More information .........>
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Monday, November 27, 2006
Tomb find reveals pre-Inca city
(BBC - News)
Archaeologists working in northern Peru have discovered a spectacular tomb complex about 1,000 years old.
The complex contains at least 20 tombs, and dates from the pre-Inca Sican era.
Among the discoveries are 12 "tumis", ceremonial knives which scientists have not been able to study in a burial site before, as well as ceramics and masks.
The Sican culture flourished from approximately AD 800-1300, one of several metalworking societies which succumbed to drought and conquest.
Archaeologists working on the project say the find will help them understand details of the culture.
"It is a religious city, a sacred settlement, and at each excavation site is a cemetery," Izumi Shimada told Peru's El Comercio newspaper.
"That tells us that Sican was a very organised society."
Professor Shimada, based at the University of Southern Illinois in the US, has been excavating Sican sites for a quarter of a century. The latest dig was performed in conjunction with the Sican National Museum.
More information ....>
Archaeologists working in northern Peru have discovered a spectacular tomb complex about 1,000 years old.The complex contains at least 20 tombs, and dates from the pre-Inca Sican era.
Among the discoveries are 12 "tumis", ceremonial knives which scientists have not been able to study in a burial site before, as well as ceramics and masks.
The Sican culture flourished from approximately AD 800-1300, one of several metalworking societies which succumbed to drought and conquest.
Archaeologists working on the project say the find will help them understand details of the culture.
"It is a religious city, a sacred settlement, and at each excavation site is a cemetery," Izumi Shimada told Peru's El Comercio newspaper.
"That tells us that Sican was a very organised society."
Professor Shimada, based at the University of Southern Illinois in the US, has been excavating Sican sites for a quarter of a century. The latest dig was performed in conjunction with the Sican National Museum.
More information ....>
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Corn, Arrowroot Fossils in Peru Change Views on Pre-Inca Culture
Nicholas Bakalarfor National Geographic News
March 2, 2006
An ancient culture in southern Peru cultivated corn some 4,000 years ago, about a thousand years earlier than previously believed, a new study suggests.
Researchers excavating a site in the Andean highland town of Waynuna found both corn leaf and corncob remains in the ruins of a house at least 3,600 years old.
Perhaps even more important, the scientists say, is that they found arrowroot remains at the same dig site.
The presence of this edible root confirms archeologists' suspicions that people in the eastern lowland forests—where the plant was grown—made contact with people in the highlands—where the root was consumed.
"Archaeologists have suspected that there was an important connection between the two areas based upon iconographic evidence and some coastal finds," said Linda Perry, the lead author on the study.
Perry is an archaeobiologist with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. She conducted the research with Dolores Piperno, a staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and a National Geographic Society grantee.
Perry added that "our arrowroot fossils are the first highland evidence documenting this connection. Our finds indicate that the connection was early and of long duration."
She and her team describe their findings in this month's issue of the journal Nature.
more information ........>
March 2, 2006
An ancient culture in southern Peru cultivated corn some 4,000 years ago, about a thousand years earlier than previously believed, a new study suggests.Researchers excavating a site in the Andean highland town of Waynuna found both corn leaf and corncob remains in the ruins of a house at least 3,600 years old.
Perhaps even more important, the scientists say, is that they found arrowroot remains at the same dig site.
The presence of this edible root confirms archeologists' suspicions that people in the eastern lowland forests—where the plant was grown—made contact with people in the highlands—where the root was consumed.
"Archaeologists have suspected that there was an important connection between the two areas based upon iconographic evidence and some coastal finds," said Linda Perry, the lead author on the study.
Perry is an archaeobiologist with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. She conducted the research with Dolores Piperno, a staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and a National Geographic Society grantee.
Perry added that "our arrowroot fossils are the first highland evidence documenting this connection. Our finds indicate that the connection was early and of long duration."
She and her team describe their findings in this month's issue of the journal Nature.
more information ........>
Ancient Canals in Andes Reveal Early Agriculture
Nicholas Bakalarfor National Geographic News
December 5, 2005
Despite a lack of solid evidence, archeologists have thought for some time that farmers used irrigation canals in agricultural villages in Peru as long as 4,000 years ago.
New discoveries in the Peruvian Andes may push that date back another 2,700 years.
Scientists say they have unearthed evidence of the oldest canals ever found in South America.
The ancient canals were almost certainly designed for irrigation and were built in the Andean foothills in northern Peru's Zaña Valley, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) from the Pacific coast.
Researchers describe their find in the November 22 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"This is an important paper with terrific results," said Jonathan Haas, an anthropologist at the Field Museum in Chicago, who was not involved in the research.
"Every day we have a better understanding of the beginnings of agriculture and domesticated economy. But the whole question of irrigation has so far been indirectly inferred based on the existence of the plants," he said.
The new study "has nailed that down very solidly. Irrigation starts remarkably early in the Andes. You're getting agriculture based on irrigation in the Andes as early as anything seen in the rest of the New World," he added. "It is just stunning work."
more information ........>
December 5, 2005
Despite a lack of solid evidence, archeologists have thought for some time that farmers used irrigation canals in agricultural villages in Peru as long as 4,000 years ago.
New discoveries in the Peruvian Andes may push that date back another 2,700 years.
Scientists say they have unearthed evidence of the oldest canals ever found in South America.
The ancient canals were almost certainly designed for irrigation and were built in the Andean foothills in northern Peru's Zaña Valley, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) from the Pacific coast.
Researchers describe their find in the November 22 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"This is an important paper with terrific results," said Jonathan Haas, an anthropologist at the Field Museum in Chicago, who was not involved in the research.
"Every day we have a better understanding of the beginnings of agriculture and domesticated economy. But the whole question of irrigation has so far been indirectly inferred based on the existence of the plants," he said.
The new study "has nailed that down very solidly. Irrigation starts remarkably early in the Andes. You're getting agriculture based on irrigation in the Andes as early as anything seen in the rest of the New World," he added. "It is just stunning work."
more information ........>
Monday, November 06, 2006
Peru Bird-Watching Takes Flight With 1,800 Species
John Roachfor National Geographic News
November 22, 2004
Eco-lodges are sprouting under the forest canopy, guidebooks are rolling off the presses, and Peruvians are eager to showcase their country as a bird-watcher's paradise.
That is the message trilled by John O'Neill, an ornithologist at Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, who has visited the country to study birds almost every year since 1961.
"It's a country that still has major areas totally unknown biologically," he said. "There have been more than 50 species of bird discovered and described in the last 50 years. I've had the good fortune of being involved with 13."
Peru is home to more than 1,800 bird species, 120 of which are found nowhere else in the world. At least five new species have also been discovered as of this year and are still waiting official scientific description.
The diversity of bird species in Peru, O'Neill said, stems from its ecological and geographical diversity. On the coast, the Pacific Ocean laps at parched desert. Inland, dry forest and scrubland rise to the snowcapped Andes. Toward the east, cloud forests spill into the Amazon Basin.
"It really is packed with landscapes and habitats," said Thomas Valqui, a Lima-based ornithologist and graduate student at LSU. "In five hours you can go from a dry desert through snow at 5,000 meters [16,400 feet] elevation to the rain forest."
Thomas Schulenberg is a conservation ecologist at the Field Museum in Chicago and an expert on Peruvian birds. He said South America is the "bird continent," thanks to bird species that are more diverse and abundant than those in tropical Asia or Africa.
That, in turn, makes Peru a hot spot, Schulenberg said. "Peru has dazzling geographic diversity, which equates to habitat diversity, which translates to more bird species."
Birders' Delights
Barry Walker is the owner of Cuzco-based Manu Expeditions and a recognized expert on birding in Peru. He said the opportunity to discover bird species new to science is attractive to a handful of people, but most come simply to marvel at the diversity of species.
"Large numbers [of birds], plus some large spectacular attractions, are the prime reason for a visit," he said.
more information .....>
That is the message trilled by John O'Neill, an ornithologist at Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, who has visited the country to study birds almost every year since 1961.
"It's a country that still has major areas totally unknown biologically," he said. "There have been more than 50 species of bird discovered and described in the last 50 years. I've had the good fortune of being involved with 13."
Peru is home to more than 1,800 bird species, 120 of which are found nowhere else in the world. At least five new species have also been discovered as of this year and are still waiting official scientific description.
The diversity of bird species in Peru, O'Neill said, stems from its ecological and geographical diversity. On the coast, the Pacific Ocean laps at parched desert. Inland, dry forest and scrubland rise to the snowcapped Andes. Toward the east, cloud forests spill into the Amazon Basin.
"It really is packed with landscapes and habitats," said Thomas Valqui, a Lima-based ornithologist and graduate student at LSU. "In five hours you can go from a dry desert through snow at 5,000 meters [16,400 feet] elevation to the rain forest."
Thomas Schulenberg is a conservation ecologist at the Field Museum in Chicago and an expert on Peruvian birds. He said South America is the "bird continent," thanks to bird species that are more diverse and abundant than those in tropical Asia or Africa.
That, in turn, makes Peru a hot spot, Schulenberg said. "Peru has dazzling geographic diversity, which equates to habitat diversity, which translates to more bird species."
Birders' Delights
Barry Walker is the owner of Cuzco-based Manu Expeditions and a recognized expert on birding in Peru. He said the opportunity to discover bird species new to science is attractive to a handful of people, but most come simply to marvel at the diversity of species.
"Large numbers [of birds], plus some large spectacular attractions, are the prime reason for a visit," he said.
more information .....>
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Cloud Forests Fading in the Mist, Their Treasures Little Known
John Roachfor National Geographic News
August 13, 2001
They are nature's "water towers," providing billions of gallons of fresh, clean, filtered water. They are home to thousands of indigenous peoples, and storehouses of biodiversity, at least 80 percent of which has not yet been catalogued.
Yet in as little as ten years' time, biologists warn, the world's cloud forests—evergreen mountain forests that are almost permanently shrouded in mist and clouds—may be all but gone.
They are being cleared for cattle grazing and coca plantations. Logged to provide fuel for heating and cooking. Paved over and developed to make way for transportation and telecommunications networks. They are being damaged and dried out by air pollutants and global warming.
Now, cloud forests are rising to the top of the world's scientific and conservation agenda. But will scientists learn enough about these important ecosystems to be able to convince the world to conserve them before they are gone forever?
Percy Nuñez, a research biologist in Cuzco, Peru, who studies cloud forests, estimates they are disappearing at a such a rate that the "the cloud forest will all be gone in the next ten years."
"We don't know about our resources—80 to 90 percent of the cloud forests are a mystery to us all," Nuñez said.
Yet scientists have barely begun assessing the wide range of species that clod forests harbor, he noted. "We don't have biologists working in cloud forests. We are not training young scientists to do the work," he said.
Now, he added, "we are working with NASA, using satellite images to get some idea of what's there before it is gone. There aren't any field guides available."
More information ......>
John Roachfor National Geographic News
August 13, 2001
They are nature's "water towers," providing billions of gallons of fresh, clean, filtered water. They are home to thousands of indigenous peoples, and storehouses of biodiversity, at least 80 percent of which has not yet been catalogued.
Yet in as little as ten years' time, biologists warn, the world's cloud forests—evergreen mountain forests that are almost permanently shrouded in mist and clouds—may be all but gone.
They are being cleared for cattle grazing and coca plantations. Logged to provide fuel for heating and cooking. Paved over and developed to make way for transportation and telecommunications networks. They are being damaged and dried out by air pollutants and global warming.
Now, cloud forests are rising to the top of the world's scientific and conservation agenda. But will scientists learn enough about these important ecosystems to be able to convince the world to conserve them before they are gone forever?
Percy Nuñez, a research biologist in Cuzco, Peru, who studies cloud forests, estimates they are disappearing at a such a rate that the "the cloud forest will all be gone in the next ten years."
"We don't know about our resources—80 to 90 percent of the cloud forests are a mystery to us all," Nuñez said.
Yet scientists have barely begun assessing the wide range of species that clod forests harbor, he noted. "We don't have biologists working in cloud forests. We are not training young scientists to do the work," he said.
Now, he added, "we are working with NASA, using satellite images to get some idea of what's there before it is gone. There aren't any field guides available."
More information ......>
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