Did Hiram Bingham Discover Machu Picchu Artifacts–Or Buy Them?
Hiram Bingham at Machu Picchu in 1912
Bingham Didn’t Dig Up The Yale Huacos –He Just Bought Them
August 6, 2009
Caretas
By Nicholas Asheshov
Here in Urubamba Hiram Bingham’s reputation has taken a knock in the run-up to the centennial of the discovery in 1911 of Machu Picchu.
The revisionists are saying that Bingham was not just a persistent explorer but also, frankly, a humbug.
Bingham’s economical use of the truth has been compounded by the poorly-advised refusal of Yale University and its Peabody Museum of Natural History to return, as promised, what Bingham’s Yale expeditions dug up in the Vilcabamba 1912-15.
The Peruvian government is taking Yale to court but they’re not pushing it.
Here’s why. None of the good pieces in the Yale Machu Picchu collection were actually dug up by Yale archaeologists.
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Ancient Inca Sun Pillars Still Mark June Solstice
(Above: The Torreón at Machu Picchu is a tower built around a stone that still has a carved groove in it. Once a year, the groove is illuminated as the rising sun shines through one window each June solstice. The window also frames the Pleiades constellation, which was used by the Incas to decide when to plant potatoes. At its height in the early 16th century, the Incas’ 2,500-mile-long empire was littered with celestial observatories, which aided the Incas in the precise sowing and reaping of various crops–KM).
When the Sun Hits the White Granite Boulder, it’s the Solstice
By Nicholas Asheshov
Caretas
On June 21, just over a week from now, the winter solstice, easily the most important day in the ancient Andes, falls due and brilliant rays of sun will be flooding just after dawn through carefully-designed Inca windows onto sharp once-a-year marker stones…
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Ancient Painting Discovered on Giant Rock at Machu Picchu
(Note: Rock art in Peru is fairly common, due to the thousands of years that humans have inhabited the area. While images of the presumed, pigment-based Machu Picchu “painting” have not yet been released, above is one of many petroglyphs that exist in the Majes Valley in Southern Peru, about 1oo miles nw of Arequipa. See also map at end of article–KM)
UCA Professor Finds Ancient Rock Painting in Peru
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
April 17, 2009
CONWAY – A University of Central Arkansas professor said Thursday that he has discovered an ancient rock painting at an Inca burial site in the Peruvian Andes and believes the work could be anywhere from 500 to 2,000 years old.
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Ex-Peruvian First Lady Slams Yale Over Machu Picchu Artifacts
Eliane Karp-Toledo and her husband, Alejandro Toledo, at his inauguration in 2001 at Machu Picchu
Peruvian Blasts Yale
Yale Daily News
April 7, 2009
As a crowd of students, faculty and even a few Peruvians hissed and clapped, Eliane Karp-Toledo, the former first lady of Peru, called for the immediate return of all Inca artifacts housed at Yale last night.
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Inca-Era Mummy Discovered Near Machu Picchu
The Frozen Mummy of an Inca Girl Found On Top Of A Mountain In Argentina In 1999
(Note: Readers of this blog will recall that a German adventurer, Augusto R. Berns, claimed to have discovered a cave full of Inca mummies on a piece of property he… (more…)
Peru to Sue Yale University over Hiram Bingham’s Machu Picchu Artifacts
Report: Peru to Sue Yale for Inca Artifacts
The Associated Press
November 9, 2008
LIMA, Peru: Peru has reportedly approved a plan to sue Yale University for thousands of Inca artifacts excavated decades ago by a U.S. scholar at Machu Picchu.
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Controversy Surrounds Story About German Who May Have Discovered Machu Picchu
(Above: Francisco Pizarro seizes the Inca Emperor Atahualpa in 1533. Although the emperor turned over a large ransom in gold and silver in exchange for being set free, Pizarro murdered him anyway).
Machu Picchu: Known and Unknown, There and Not There
(Originally published in Spanish in Peru in La Republica, Aug 31, 2008. The Spanish version is included here, directly after the English version)
By Daniel Buck
Mention the phrase “Lost City of the Incas” or “Inca treasure” and normally skeptical journalists drop their guard and credulously report the most unfounded speculations…
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Did a German Adventurer Discover Machu Picchu Before Hiram Bingham? An Interview with Paolo Greer (Part 3)
An Interview with Paolo Greer (Part 3)
(To read Part 2, click here)
19) In what year did you find Augusto Berns’ “promotional materials” in Peru’s National Library?
PG: You are referring to the collection of Berns’ papers I mentioned in my article for the South American Explorer… (more…)
Did a German Adventurer Discover Machu Picchu Before Hiram Bingham? An Interview with Paolo Greer (Part 2)
AN INTERVIEW WITH PAOLO GREER (PART 2)
(To read Part 1, click here)
7) You recently published an article in the “South American Explorer” called “Machu Picchu before Bingham.” In the article you make a number of claims, among them that a German, Augusto R. Berns, purchased an estate called the “Cercado de San Antonio,” or “Torontoy,” in 1867 and that… (more…)
Hiking the Inca Trail in Peru to Machu Picchu
A hiker on the Inca Trail, Peru
(Note: the best advice I can offer readers for hiking the Inca trail is to book as early as possible–six months would be ideal–wear good shoes, be in good shape, and arrive in the Cuzco area as many days as possible to acclimatise yourself to the altitude. A week in the Andes before heading off is best and the better the shape you are in, the more you will enjoy the hike. By early March, 2008 the trail was booked through the entire summer–KM).
On the Inca Trail, Peru
Detroit Free Press
March 9, 2008
It can no longer be helped. The wetness creeps into my eyes like the condensation that shrouded our tent this morning…
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