Tomb find reveals pre-Inca city (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

Archaeologists working in northern Peru have discovered a spectacular tomb complex about 1,000 years old.

The complex contains at least 20 tombs, and dates from the pre-Inca Sican era.

Among the discoveries are 12 "tumis", ceremonial knives which scientists have not been able to study in a burial site before, as well as ceramics and masks.

The Sican culture flourished from approximately AD 800-1300, one of several metalworking societies which succumbed to drought and conquest.
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The tumis {ceremonial knives} are a prize find, because until now the knives have come to scientists from tomb raiders. Finding them in situ would allow a closer understanding of their role in Sican culture, researchers said
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6172530.stm

[stevebreeze]

1. I find this stuff SO COOL!!!

I am already on a political board, how big a geek does that make me? Ah who cares.

[Kindigger]

2. Very cool!

I'll join you in your geekdom LOL. The picture reminds me a lot of a replica piece I bought in an Aztec village in Mexico. The little guy on the top is almost identical. Really cool.

[NorCalDem]

3. I find it cool too

makes one wonder what we might know if the cultures of indigenous peoples hadn't been eradicated for gold, plunder, and blood money. I read the other day about carbon nanotubes helping make Damascus steel so sharp, we're always finding medical uses for these plants (like cancer drugs derived from plants near the amazon); the Inca's had a calendar that is still accurate today and understood more about the inner workings of our solar system while Europeans were still convinced the World was flat.

Honestly, where would we be if our European ancestors had stopped and thought for even a moment that some of the practices of these cultures were in fact well-educated and perfected over centuries of civilization, not just barbaric/ignorant customs adopted by God's forsaken people. Would we have medicines curing everything from cancer to AIDS, or how much more would we know about chemistry, math, and astrology? That's what boggles my mind....

[Pierre.Suave]

6. I have thought the same thing

from time to time.

[MuseRider]

4. Thanks for posting this.

Geek here too. I know little about this but I do find it fascinating. I was fortunate to visit the Mayan ruins of Copan and was hooked after that trip.

[pansypoo53219]

5. another BUFF/geek here too

but obviously we are also interested in history, and this is ancient history.
never been anywhere, but my unlce brought back a picture book from a mexico temple and i got xeroxes and have done several 'aztec' paintings from them. one a huge skull wall oil. just a bunch of skulls like they used for ornimentation, but with a victirian 'border'-'dececorative motifs'.