Inca Girl, Frozen for 500 Years, Now On Display
(Above: The 15-year-old “Llullaillaco Maiden” was sacrificed along with two other children on top of Mt. Llullaillco, in northern Argentina, at 22,000 feet)
In Argentina, A Museum Unveils A Long-Frozen Maiden
September 11, 2007
NYT
SALTA, Argentina — The maiden, the boy, the girl of lightning: they were three Inca children, entombed on a bleak and frigid mountaintop 500 years ago as a religious sacrifice…
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Temple of Ancient Idols and Mummies Discovered in Peru
(Above: The Inca ruins of Sacsayhuaman (also Saqsaywaman) lie just above the city of Cuzco, Peru, at an elevation of nearly 12,000 feet)
Ancient Temple Discovered Among Inca Ruins
National Geographic News
March 31, 2008
A temple thought to have once housed idols and mummies has been unearthed near an ancient Inca site in Cusco, Peru…
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Article that Accuses Peruvian Doctor of Having Helped Loot Machu Picchu Questioned
An Antiquities Gallery within the Ethnological Museum of Berlin
SOMOS
(El Comercio)
July 12, 2008
By Dr. Federico Camino Macedo
(Translated by Kim MacQuarrie)
The article in SOMOS 1125 [June 28, 2008, in El Comercio] referred to José Macedo as an ignorant criminal who colluded with the German August R Berns in the sacking, looting, and commercialization of the treasures of Machu Picchu. In reality, the former is Doctor Mariano José Macedo Cazorla (born in Ayaviri in 1823; died in Lima in 1894), a prestigious medical doctor who introduced the study and scientific treatment of epidemics to Peru and who, according to Carlos Enrique Paz Soldán, was “the greatest hygienist of his time” (La Vida y Obra de Mariano José Macedo; Lima, 1945, page 48)…
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Did a German Adventurer Discover Machu Picchu Before Hiram Bingham? An Interview with Paolo Greer (Part 1)
An Interview With Paolo Greer
Part 1
Note: Recently, a number of stories have emerged in the press alleging that a German adventurer and businessman, Augusto R. Berns, discovered and/or looted Machu Picchu decades before Hiram Bingham arrived at the now famous Inca site in 1911. The stories, for the most part, owe their origin to a 57-year-old American explorer and researcher named Paolo Greer, who claims that he has discovered old maps and other documents showing that Augusto R. Berns created a company, “Huacas del Inca,” or “The Inca Idols Company,” that “was formed to sack Machu Picchu.” In a recent article, Greer also stated that “Although Bingham was directed to Machu Picchu, not by Augusto Berns but by Albert Giesecke, the head of the University of Cuzco, Berns was probably the prospector Bingham had heard about, the one who had been to Machu Picchu decades before him.”
Since the publication of Greer’s article, various reporters have interviewed a number of people in Peru and elsewhere who have claimed to either have worked on Greer’s “research team” or else have accused Greer of having appropriated their work. To help clarify what Greer did or did not discover, and how and when he made his discoveries, the following is Part 1 of an interview with Paolo Greer… (KM)
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Englishman and German Claimed to Have Discovered Machu Picchu Before Hiram Bingham (Part 2)
Fights of Machu Picchu
By Daniel Buck
Part 2
Dr. Kessler continued his research at the McNairn family library in England, however, and in March 1983 he wrote to Carolyn Anderson, the National Geographic’s resident authority on Machu-Picchu-Discovery claims, to report his startling conclusion that his father-in-law had been mistaken…
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Englishman and German Claimed to Have Discovered Machu Picchu Before Hiram Bingham (Part 1)
(Above: A view of the Machu Picchu ruins (center left) and Vilcanota/Urubamba River by Hiram Bingham in 1912)
Note: Recent press reports have circled the globe claiming that a German, Augusto R. Berns, discovered and looted Machu Picchu long before the American, Hiram Bingham, “discovered” them in 1911. In an upcoming interview, the American explorer/researcher, Paolo Greer, whose research formed the basis for these press reports, will talk at length about what he actually did or did not discover about Augusto R. Berns. In the meantime, I’m republishing here an article (not previously available on the web) that was written by the American researcher/author Daniel Buck about earlier claims by an Englishman and a German that they had discovered Machu Picchu, not Hiram Bingham. Buck has written his own introductory preface, which follows below… KM
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Three Historians Support American’s Claim that Machu Picchu was Looted Before Hiram Bingham
The Search For the Treasure
By Enrique Sanchez Hernani
SOMOS (El Comercio)
June 28, 2008
(translated by Kim MacQuarrie)
Vestiges. Documents that could confirm the discovery of Machu Picchu by a German adventurer a half century before Hiram Bingham, reveal new evidence about the monumental looting.
In the beginning of June, news shook scientific and historical circles: the German dealer August R. Berns had carried away the majority of the archaeological remains at Machu Picchu 44 years before Bingham arrived in this country…
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Peruvian Historian Claims She Found First Maps Proving that Machu Picchu was Discovered Before Bingham
(Above: A Peruvian farmer with looted Inca artifacts in 1911; photo by Hiram Bingham)
Peruvian historian had already published maps of ancient Machu Picchu
June 6, 2008
EFE
(Translated by Kim MacQuarrie)
The Peruvian historian Mariana Mould de Pease published maps in 2003 showing that the famous Inca citadel of Machu Picchu was already known in ancient times and was sacked by the German adventurer Augusto Berns in 1867.
These maps and the history of Berns were made public in an exclusive report last Tuesday by the American cartographer Paolo Greer…
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Was Machu Picchu “Discovered” & Looted 43 Years Before Hiram Bingham’s Arrival? (Part 2)
(At left: The American Paolo Greer discovered this map of the Machu Picchu area in Lima’s National Library. It was in an 1877 book by the German geologist, Herman Göhring. The map is dated 1874 and clearly indicates two peaks: “Macchu Picchu” and “Huaina Picchu,” although no accompanying ruins are indicated.)
Machu Picchu Before Bingham (Part 2)
By Paolo Greer
South American Explorer Magazine
Edition 87
June 2008
The Oldest Map of Machu Picchu
In 1989, I was granted an interview with Juan Mejía Baca, the Director of the National Library of Perú. I had spent many weeks in the library and had finally worked up my courage to make a few suggestions to Don Juan about how he might make his archives more accessible.
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Was Machu Picchu “Discovered” & Looted 43 Years Before Hiram Bingham’s Arrival? (Part 1)
(Above: Machu Picchu in 1912; Photo by Hiram Bingham III)
Note: Recently there has surfaced in the press the announcement that a German adventurer/businessman, Augusto R. Berns, actually discovered Machu Picchu (and looted it with the permission of the Peruvian government at the time) some four decades before the American historian, Hiram Bingham, stumbled upon the ruins in 1911 and officially “discovered” them. The press reports promised that the man making this claim, the American Paolo Greer, would soon publish his proof in the “South American Explorer Magazine.” Greer’s article has just been published and Part I is reprinted in full below.
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