Inca Archives - Samantha Bangayan

The Lost Incan City Paititi and the Explorer in You

October 19, 2011
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I can’t even imagine what it must have been like for Hiram Bingham when he came upon the forgotten Inca site of Machu Picchu in the Peruvian Andes in 1911 and presented it to the world. There must be better words to describe feelings like excitement and glee, but tenfold!

Exploración de los Andes — Trekking through the Andes ignited the explorer in me all over again.

Legend has it that there is another lost city in Peru where the Incan hero Inkarri (or Inkarí) took refuge from the Spaniards: Paititi. It was apparently Inkarri’s oasis after he founded the city of Cuzco, the site of Machu Picchu, and it could be the very El Dorado, the “Lost City of Gold,” that the Spanish conquistadors Francisco Orellana and Gonzalo Pizarro searched for in their conquest of the Incan empire during the mid-1500s. It should have all the gold and treasure that was lacking when Machu Picchu was discovered.

There have been various attempts to locate Paititi over the last century with one of the most recent ventures in 2008 led by the American explorer Gregory Deyermenjian who has conducted more than 10 past expeditions in search of the lost city. That same year, Peruvians discovered what they thought to be a stone fortress that could be Paititi near Cuzco, which they later dubbed Manco Pata. Unfortunately, upon closer examination, they found the ruins to be naturally formed rather than human made.

The first time I truly felt and listened to the explorer in me was during my early years in university. I had a particularly adventure-minded friend and together we raced through the forest of the local golf course in the middle of the night, getting pricked by pine needles and soaked in swamps, and inspected parts of the university beach that seemed abandoned. I left that side of me behind as I began to focus on my studies and didn’t rediscover it again until I arrived here in the Andes and trekked through its mountains.

How has the explorer in you shined through in the past or how does it currently shine through?

Archeological Discoveries

April 29, 2011
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In the early 1980s, international archeologists funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation excavated various sites in the Mantaro Valley where I now live to piece together the Central Andean past.

Un anfiteatro escondido en las montañas del Valle de Mantaro — We found this hidden amphitheater during one of our treks through the mountains of the Mantaro Valley.

The Huanca society dominated the valley before the Incas arrived in the 1400s, organizing the zone into a province of their grand empire.

What was the Huanca culture like?

Along with ethnographic research, the bits and pieces unearthed from known Huanca communities in the area tell us the stories of Huanca families.

Finding pieces of deep serving basins in a household zone marked an elite family. They used the basins for hosting Andean ceremonial feasts.
Elite patios had more deer, maize and coca remains. They were able to eat more maize even though it wasn’t a very productive crop at the time and chew on coca even though it wasn’t produced locally.
Bits of hoes, sickle blades and digging sticks were distributed throughout each household zone, signifying the importance of agriculture as a source of economy. Fewer farming tools were found in elite households. They may have received payments instead.
Spindles found in each household suggest that families made their own clothes.
Manufacturing remains found in certain Huanca communities suggest that these communities specialized in the production of certain goods, such as ceramics, and exchanged the commodity with the locals.
When the Incas pacified the area, the economy and lifestyle remained relatively unchanged although commoners ate better and survived longer based on food remains and burial data.

Agricultura en el Valle de Mantaro — Agriculture continues to be a strong source of economy in the Mantaro Valley.

In analyzing the set-up and items in my own household, I imagine that historians will be able to tell that there were two people living in the apartment (two placemats on the dining table), we had a kitten (little bowls and cat toys on the floor), we were extremely organized (everything in its place), we valued learning (books and newspapers strewn about), and we were savvy with technology (various computers, machines and cables).

What would historians say about you based on your household?

Rediscovering the Value of Hidden Treasures

April 12, 2011
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A near century-long dispute has now come to an end. This past weekend, I joined tens of thousands of witnesses who visited Lima’s Government Palace to view the free exhibition of Incan artifacts returned to Peru by Yale University at long last. The story begins with Hiram Bingham, a U.S. explorer co-sponsored by the National Geographic Society who rediscovered and excavated Machu Picchu during various expeditions between 1912 and 1915. Peru and Yale made an agreement that Bingham could borrow over 40,000 archeological pieces consisting of bones, ceramics and jewelry from Machu Picchu for 18 months, but the artifacts were not returned until now.

Vasijas Incaicas de Cerámica — These Incan ceramic vessels were part of the collection of artifacts returned to Peru from Yale University.

Historians often refer to Machu Picchu as “The Lost City of the Incas” because it remained hidden from the conquistadors during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. When Bingham stumbled upon Machu Picchu in the 20th century, it was covered in jungle growth and had been unpopulated since the 15th century when Huayna Cápac was still young — Huayna Cápac was the penultimate Incan emperor who is credited with expanding and developing the Incan Empire to its most successful state in history.

So, what do we know of Machu Picchu during the five centuries it remained uninhabited?

Cuchillos Incaicos — I was able to view these Incan knives at the government palace in Lima.

From one of the manuscripts of the Count of Nieva, a Spanish-appointed governor of Peru, we know that Machu Picchu was part of a major land distribution to Spanish loyalists. It was first entrusted to Hernando Pizarro, brother of Francisco Pizarro who is famous for conquering the Incan Empire, and later to an Arias Maldonado.

In 1992, the historian José Tamayo Herrera found an old deed that states: “Doña Manuela Almirón Villegas sold the lands of Pijchu, Machupijchu and Huaynapijchu to Señores Pedro and Antonio Ochoa for the sum of $350. In turn, in 1782, these men resold the aforementioned lands for $450 to the Spanish mayor of the Urubamba Valley.”

Imagining how many hands Machu Picchu has passed through without the realization and discovery of its value had me thinking — how many things in my own life have I undervalued and later “rediscovered”? Overalls I had thrown in the back of my closet ended up being the predominant piece of my Pippi Longstocking costume. The four years of high school Spanish I left to waste during my university years has contributed to what is now my primary mode of communication in Peru. My entire immediate and extended family, who I had turned away from to follow my own path, were the very people who provided and continue to provide the most support.

What treasures have you “rediscovered” in your life?