Guardians of Peru's Treasures Stake Out Post Office to Block Smuggling

[Judi Lynn]

Guardians of Peru's Treasures Stake Out Post Office to Block Smuggling
June 14, 2013 6:04 pm
By WILLIAM NEUMAN / The New York Times

LIMA, Peru -- Gladiz Collatupa, an archaeologist, once stashed six mummies at her parents' house for safe keeping. That was when she dug for artifacts in the dirt of Peru, rich with the leavings of past cultures like the Inca and the Moche. Now she digs through packages at the post office instead, searching for ancient treasure being smuggled out of the country.

Ms. Collatupa and a colleague, Sonia Rojas, an art historian, are a pair of Indiana Joneses in reverse. Instead of swashbuckling around the world looting ruins, they try to keep Peru's ancient riches from being spirited out of the country by mail.

"With less danger," noted Ms. Rojas, a petite woman in glasses with a keen interest in colonial Peruvian paintings. She wears a khaki vest with a large button that says, "I defend my cultural heritage."

The women work for Peru's Ministry of Culture as part of a program aimed at stopping the illegal export of valuable historic and prehistoric objects and artwork, a depletion that began nearly 500 years ago with the Spanish conquest of the Inca empire and has never stopped.

More:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/world/guardians-of-perus-treasures-stake-out-post-office-to-block-smuggling-691715/#ixzz2WExJdxPT

[Judi Lynn]

1. While they were guarding the post offices, looking for smuggling:

July 5th, 2013, 19:41 GMT · By Laura Sinpetru
5,000-Year-Old Pyramid in Peru Destroyed by Construction Workers

Construction workers in Peru have recently destroyed an ancient pyramid that was part and parcel of one of the oldest archaeological site in the Americas.

The site, dubbed El Paraiso, is located close to Lima, Peru's capital city.

The pyramid was brought down on June 29. In a recent statement, Peru's culture ministry explains that the ancient monument destroyed by the workers measured 6 meters (20 feet) in height.

Its base covered approximately 2,500 meters (roughly 3,000 yards), the ministry further detailed.

By the looks of it, the people who destroyed the pyramid did not settle for just tearing it down. On the contrary, they also set the resulting rubble on fire.

~snip~

The property developers have been arrested, and are now facing criminal charges. Given the gravity of their actions, they risk being made to spend as many as eight years in prison.

Ironically enough, the destruction of this pyramid occurred just five months after an archaeologist named Marco Guillen had warned that the El Paraiso archaeological site needed additional protection in order to prevent companies and workers from carrying out illegal urban development activities.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/5-000-Year-Old-Pyramid-in-Peru-Destroyed-by-Construction-Workers-365835.shtml