The Guardian
Invaders threaten the archaeologist who discovered the oldest city in the Americas with death
Invaders allegedly belonging to a family claim a 5,000-year-old ruin site that was given to them in the 1970s. Illegal invaders invaded the ruins of the oldest city in the Americas and made death threats against Ruth Shady, the famous Peruvian archaeologist who discovered the one-year civilization. The threats came through calls and messages to several workers at the archaeological site at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in Peru. They followed reports from police and prosecutors about the invasions of the ancient ruins of Caral. “They called the local attorney and said that if he continued to protect me, they would kill him, along with me, and bury us five meters below the ground,” said Shady, 73. “Then they killed our dog as a warning. They poisoned you, as if to say, look what will happen to you, ”she said. It is not the first time that Shady has been threatened or attacked. In 2003, she was shot in the chest during an attack on the 626-hectare (1,546-acre) archaeological complex, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009. After nine invasions of the holy city during the pandemic period, Shady and she The team repeatedly asked authorities to intervene. “There is a feeling that there is no authority dedicated to the protection and defense of our heritage. It is a big concern, ”she said. Carla’s map In July, invaders using a heavy bulldozer knocked over adobe walls and tore through the ground destroying old ceramics, tombs containing mummies, tissues and household debris, before police and local staff managed to stop as a result of Shady’s appeals, a police car patrols the archaeological site day and night, but nothing was done to punish or expel the invaders. The invaders are believed to belong to a single extended family and claim that the land was given to them in the 1970s during Peru’s controversial agrarian reform, which was driven by a left-wing military dictatorship. Shady denies the statement: “They don’t have a single land title. The land owner is the Peruvian state. “The planned eviction of one of the squatters was prevented in December, when a local prosecutor and officer did not give the order to proceed, despite having the support of police, said Shady. the area has increased from about $ 5,000 per hectare to up to $ 50,000 per hectare, as outsiders rush to buy land around the prestigious archaeological site that is surrounded by a 56 square mile buffer zone. Shady, who was named on the BBC’s 100 Women list this year, visited Caral for the first time in 1978. But it was only in 1994 that she discovered the ancient city and began to properly excavate the site, which is situated on a dry desert terrace. overlooking the valley of the Supe River, almost 200 km (124 miles) north of Lima. What she discovered was the “oldest center of civilization in the Americas”, which Unesco describes as “exceptionally well preserved”, with a complex architectural design with “monumental stones and earth platform supports and circular courts”. organic material found at the site has been dated by carbon since 2627 BCEShady and his team continues to investigate and excavate a dozen old settlements, half of the 24 located in the Supe valley that are part of the Caral-Supe civilization. His discoveries revealed musical instruments like flutes made of animal and bird bones and evidence of the cultivation of multicolored cotton used in textiles. “We cannot allow archaeological sites to continue to be invaded and destroyed because it is an unwritten story and we recovered that story through our investigation,” said Shady. ” If we can’t do that, it’s like burning a book that nobody is going to read. ” “I hope we can continue investigating and recovering our history because it has a very interesting message,” she added. “It was a very, very peaceful society. We didn’t even find a settlement with walls.” “There is a message there that we, human beings, we must live in harmony between ourselves and nature, “concluded Shady.” We are experiencing this pandemic, partly due to mistreatment of nature. “