Raid of Ancient Peruvian City Unearths Ethical Questions of Exploration
By Justin Nyberg
September 7, 2005 Looters have plundered the ruins of Gran Saposoa, an ancient city that was recently discovered in the isolated mountains of Peru over 330 miles northeast of Lima, raising old questions about the ethics of exploration and discovery.
The ruins were first announced to the world in 1999 and were thought to be a major find for the study of pre-Incan civilization. However, an expedition to further explore and survey the ruins found several of the stone tombs destroyed and artifacts missing, including the stone head of a prominent sculpture in the most important set of ruins.
“It was very sad and disheartening to our teams because we are there to make known these areas so the government can protect them,” Sean Savoy, the leader of the 23-day August expedition, told Outside Online.
Savoy’s father, Gene Savoy, an accomplished Andean explorer, discovered the site in 1999, while looking for Cajamarquilla, one of the lost cities of the Chachapoya civilization, a group that flourished before the Incas.
The city they found—which they believe to be Cajamarquilla but was named Gran Saposoa until it can be verified—is thought to date back from the seventh century A.D., and includes thousands of circular stone buildings covering 80 square miles and is estimated to have housed 20,000 people.
Gran Saposoa is believed to have been the place that the cultures of the Chachapoya, Inca, and Spanish converged in bloody conflict, but it is valuable mostly because of remarkable condition, Savoy said.
“The significant of Gran Saposoa is immeasurable,” said Savoy. “This is why it is so important to preserve it.”
Its isolated located in thick jungle a three-day walk from the nearest town and the layers of thick overgrowth covering the ruins are believed to have protected them from looters—until now.
An unfortunate side effect of its recent discovery is exposure to vandalism, especially in countries like Peru where the black market for ancient archeological items thrives.
Some archeologists have criticized Gene Savoy in the past for announcing his discoveries before the pristine sites can be catalogued, thereby alerting looters to their location.
“Exploring is the key,” Gene Savoy responded in a 2004 article in the Los Angeles Times. “The scientists tell you what you found, but you have to find it in the first place… Let the scientists come later.”
While acknowledging the missing stone head in the main archeological site as proof that the 1999 announcement led to at least some of the desecration, Sean Savoy laid the fault on the Peruvian government for failing to protect the area in spite of repeated requests.
“That’s why we’re coming back and saying we told you about this site…and nothing has happened,” Sean Savoy said. “They must declare it some kind of a protected zone so that further exploration can go on but so that illicit travel into the area can be quelled.”
Still, Savoy has no regrets about the announcement of Gran Saposoa’s location, saying that it alerted the authorities to the need of safekeeping the ruins.
“Without the area being explored there is no science to follow. You walk a razor’s edge,” Savoy said. “Are you going to stop progress? Stop science? Stop exploration? No. What we have to do is coordinate.”
