Bogwitch

The Nazca lines seem to show that the less we understand about history, the greater our propensity towards mythology.

Yeah, this!

2 April 2013 • reblog: colchrishadfield • archaeology landscape Peru Nazca lines

Sometimes you have to nudge your sleepy cat aside & climb out of your blanket cocoon at 4 am to look up which end of the visible spectrum magenta falls on*, or what the collective noun for bears is**, or to find out whether there is such a thing as an alloy made from gold and silver***, or what were the early Peruvian cloud people called again****, or is lucid dreaming a natural ability or a learned skill*****?

I don’t really have a problem with living in the Information Age.

* Neither/both!
** A “sleuth” or “sloth” of bears! How great is that? (Also: a “skulk” of foxes, a “fluther” or “smack” of jellyfish, & an “ostentation” of peacocks!)
*** There is, it’s called electrum.
**** The Chachapoya culture.
***** It seems like most sources say it’s something you can learn, though it also seems like a lot of those sources are selling something.

20 March 2013 • technology histroy science sleep night research color metal bear Peru

haiku from my spring break 2005 trip to Huanta, Peru

In the street market,
many men proposed. Blonde genes
are recessive, though.

5 June 2012 • poetry Peru memory humor

(via photolodico)

Basically, a Canadian oil company, Talisman Energy, wants to drill for oil on the ancestral lands of Amazonian tribes, which would likely unbalance their ways & potentially even threaten the lives of indigenous peoples.

Canada, how could you? I thought you were better than this.
Life & respect & sustainability before profits, don’t you know that?

Derek Webb said/sang it well:

“I don’t know the suffering of people outside my front door
I join the oppressors of those I choose to ignore
I’m trading comfort for human life
And that’s not just murder, it’s suicide
And this too shall be made right.”

14 December 2011 • reblog: photolodico • people culture Peru Canada

i-want-tobelieve:

Peruvian Skulls
These odd elongated skulls originate from Peru. They were excavated in Nazca - close to the mysterious Nazca lines. As with the horned skull race, skeletal remains reveal that this race was extremely tall - up to nine feet in height. Similar skulls have been excavated in Mexico and are on display in museums. Some of the elongated skulls showed evidence of ancient brain surgery, suggesting an advanced knowledge and understanding of biology. Suggestions that the skulls were altered by a process of binding the skull in infancy, when the cranial bones are soft, encouraging them to grow into an un-natural shape, have been rejected. Nevertheless, skull binding cannot increase the internal capacity of the cranial void - and evidence points to the fact that in the case of the Peruvian and Mexican skulls, the cranial void is significantly larger than in a normal skull.

WHAT IS THIS. I have never heard of this before, and it’s very interesting & very creepy-weird.

(via petrellica)

16 October 2011 • reblog: i-want-tobelieve • archaeology Peru

Rediscovering Machu Picchu

This article is a firsthand account of the rediscovery of Machu Picchu in 1911 & 1912 written by archaeologist Hiram Bingham. He was more of an adventurer than a writer, but it’s still kind of thrilling to read about the exploration of something that ancient & cool. Someday, I too will make it there and see it all for myself.

And when I do, I’ll have to ask if they’re still going with the theory about the snakes in the walls:

One of the windows in this tower has several small holes near the bottom. These were found to connect, by very narrow channels, barely large enough for a snake to crawl through, with circular holes within the wall, where the snakes might have constructed their nests.

There are still many snakes at Machu Picchu. There are also snakes carved on several rocks. Lizards are not common, and the holes within the wall are much too large for lizards’ nests; but they are of the right size for a comfortable snake’s nest—for a small snake.

It seems to me possible that in this wall the priest of this clan group kept a few tame snakes and that he used their chance exits out of one hole or another as a means of telling omens and possibly of prophesying.

Ummm… that is one possible explanation, certainly. But what if those were for something completely different & mundane? Like, I dunno, oil reservoirs for candle wicks or something. Would the Inca laugh their heads off at the things we guess about the place they left behind?

28 July 2011 • archaeology travel adventure Peru Machu Picchu

Rise & Fall of the Inca Empire

“Now archaeologists are making up for lost time. Combing rugged mountain slopes near Cusco, they are discovering thousands of previously unknown sites, shedding new light on the origins of the Inca dynasty.”

Words written in the very greenest ink could not express the intensity of my envy. Stupid archaeologists! Having all the fun while I’m just here at home NOT digging up ancient, amazing stonework & pottery & mummified kings surrounded by the raw beauty of the Andes. Mumph.

17 March 2011 • archaeology culture history nature Peru travel adventure