In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

CHAPTER SEVEN Looters and Looting Cahuachi is a massively looted site (figs. 7.1-7.4). Doering (1 958) suggests that at least some of the looting of Cahuachi dates to the Colonial Period as a result of the Spaniards' search for gold. Since elsewhere in Peru the Spanish looted huacas in the hope of finding treasure, it is possible that Cahuachi also would have received their attention. The colonial presence at Cahuachi is confirmed by the colonial pottery recovered in Test Pit 16, which was excavated in Hugo Verne Navas's field (see chap. 11). Also, Quijandria (1961: 105) notes that the cacique Nanasca left to the church, in his will of 1589, his farm at Caguachipana (Cahuachi) and other lands. Some looting of Cahuachi also could have taken place in the nineteenth century since by then a small amount of Nasca pottery already was present in the collections of several European museums (Proulx 1968: 101). Thus, even before the first archaeologist visited Cahuachi, the site had probably been looted to some degree. The most intense and damaging looting at Cahuachi, however, has occurred in this century. It is ironic that the early twentieth-century archaeologists themselves provoked at least some of the recent large-scale looting of south coast sites. Max Uhle, who first identified the source area of Nasca pottery, realized this unfortunate causal relationship as early as 1914. "As soon as I had left the scene [lea in 1901 and the Nazca region in 1905] of my last explorations," he wrote, "my workingmen, who had become quite experts, under my training, continued alone and in secret to search for this valuable and rare pottery. Thus, a vast amount of this beautiful ware was unearthed and found its way to Lima, where all was 100 greedily acquired by dealers. Many additional cemeteries were located by these huaqueros [looters, grave robbers] and entirely rifled" (Uhle 1914: 8). Following Uhle, Kroeber, Tello, and Doering worked in the cemeteries of Cahuachi and in the Nazca region (chap. 2). Unlike Uhle who realized full well the destructive aftermath caused by his research focus, Tello did not, and he paradoxically bemoaned the intensity of south coast looting in a letter of October 29, 1926, without recognizing that his own activities were provoking similar consequences. "The important discovery of Dr. Uhle .awoke the avarice of the antiquities dealers who gave themselves over, from then on, to the incessant exploitation of the tombs of the Department of lea. Felipe Morales, one of Dr. Uhle's workmen, was the first to form clandestine archaeological collections, supplying the commercial establishments of Lima.... In the short space of 25 years, the looters have opened about 30,000 tombs. Their vandalized trophies are found dispersed all over the world as mere curiosities. They have lost, perhaps forever, their historical and scientific value" (Tello and Mejia Xesspe 1967: 156; my translation). So as to better understand the horrendously disturbed condition of the surface at Cahuachi, I collected as much information as possible on looting and looters. These efforts began in summer 1983 when, through the good graces of Josue Lancho Rojas and accompanied by Andres Barreto, I was able to interview Candelario Navarro, now deceased, who in his time was perhaps the greatest huaquero in the whole Rio Grande de Nazca drainage and beyond (see Martinez 1976). I also interviewed my 8382 000 7.1. Map of the easternmost part of Cahuachi with the major areas of looting indicated by hachure. us-'o, 1".,1".,1"',1"1.1"1 11'.,1"',117' CATASTRO RURAL: II-no-.uo PROSPECCION ARQUEOLOGICA: HELAINE SILVERMAN FOTOINTERPRETE: JOSE PINEDA DIBUJO: JOSE PINEDA DIBUJO FINAL: MICHAEL BARNES 8381 500 8381 000 CLAVE • KEY -----.,.... limite Agricola Agricullurailimill IttJtttl Mon"CulO~::I~~~a::: g o at 8360 500 • 1983 companion and field guide, Barreto, who had done his share of looting, too. In 1984 and 1985, more data on looting were collected through interviews with two of my workers and the cleaning of five looters' holes at Cahuachi (see below). I asked my head worker, Armando Valdivia, how Cahuachi could have been looted so extensively. He explained that when one tomb was found, word quickly spread and a "grave rush" ensued. This is similar to Strong's interpretation of looting patterns at Cahuachi. "We did not encounter any untouched great log and adobe chamber-tombs which, at Cahuachi, have been LOOTERS AND LOOTING 101 [52.14.126.74] Project MUSE (2024-04-16 19:01 GMT...

Share