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The Chachapoya Culture
Richard
Franklin Bishop
©
Copyright 2016
by Richard Franklin Bishop
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Why
is it that we who live in the Americas just can’t bring
ourselves to believe that once upon a time there were brave people
who decided to “go for it” and actually made it across
the Atlantic to the “new World” -- before the Vikings ?
Perhaps it’s because no one has ever stepped forward with
convincing evidence for such an adventure. With all Academia
staunchly set against the idea, the proof would have to be the
“irresistible force against an immovable object”.
Fans
of Pedro Álvares Cabral (Brazil discovery date: 1500 A.D.) are
especially sensitive to any research that would tend to overshadow
his celebrated but involuntary storm-tossed landing in present-day
Brazil made accidently while attempting to circumnavigate Africa.
Fans
of Christopher Columbus (New World discovery date: 1492 A.D.) are a
little less rabid on the subject but band together steady as a rock
in denying that anyone but the Vikings could have landed in the
Americas earlier.
But
now, I’ve come around to agreeing with the late Dr. Cyrus H.
Gordon, who asserted in his book, Before Columbus (Crown Publishers,
New York, 1971), that there were scores of ancient visits to the “new
world” and that many of them were on purpose -- not just
accidental; probably seeking natural resources such as gold or silver
or tin or iron ore -- whatever the technology of the times required.
In the 27 years from 1971 to 1998, I had read many treatises on the
subject, but, my breath was taken away when I absorbed and realized
the import of the words from Page 109, ESOP Volume # 23, 1998, "A
Curious Element in Uto-Aztecan" by Brian Darrel Stubbs:
"In
looking at the globe, one can see that the shortest distance from
Africa to the America (2,920 km*) is shorter (by 810 km*) than the
length of the Mediterranean Sea (3,730 km*)."
That
was 18 years ago, and my thinking is still driven strongly by the
revelation of these words. And further, to say that the large
ocean-going ships of Biblical Tarshish, of the Greeks or the
Phoenicians or the Egyptians or the Persians or the Veneti** (a
Celtic tribe of Brittany, France) would be afraid to tackle such a
trip is ridiculous. Why?, because: (1) their ships were larger than
those of Columbus and (2) it is now evident from the Piri Reis Map of
1513 that the calculation of Longitude was possible long before
Columbus. The mariners of ancient times have never been given “due
credit.”
*
Distances calculated by: Der große National Geographic 3-D
Globus, German Version, 2009, and were added, in parentheses, by this
Author.
**
From The Battle of Morbihan, 56 B.C., by Julius Caesar. Commentarii
de Bello Gallico 3:8: The Veneti evidently had close relations with
Bronze Age Britain; Julius Caesar describes how the Veneti sailed to
Britain. They controlled the tin trade from mining in Cornwall and
Devon. The Veneti built their ships of oak with large transoms fixed
by iron nails of a thumb's thickness. They navigated and powered
their ships through the use of leather sails. This made their ships
strong, sturdy and structurally sound, capable of withstanding the
harsh conditions of the Atlantic. Caesar directed his men to build
ships. However, his galleys were at a serious disadvantage compared
to the far thicker Veneti ships. The thickness of their ships meant
they were resistant to ramming, whilst their greater height meant
they could shower the Roman ships with projectiles, and even
overthrow the wooden turrets which Caesar had added to his bulwarks.
The Veneti manoeuvred so skilfully under sail that boarding was
impossible. These factors, coupled with their intimate knowledge of
the coast and tides, put the Romans at a disadvantage (Wikipedia).
I
think all our disbeliefs will change, soon. This is because 18 years
ago, a Professor who’s been called a “cultural theorist”
and had taught for the Universities of Gottingen and Hildesheim (now
retired after 35 years of teaching) set the World on its ear by
highlighting a strange South American culture almost hidden in the
high Andes; in the foggy crags and peaks of northwestern Peru. His
name is Dr. Hans Giffhorn and he and his cameraman, Jochen Phillip,
had been hunting in 1998 for a rare hummingbird found only there.
While filming, they stumbled upon several features of an ancient
culture, now extinct, which the Incas had called Chachapoya (Fog or
Cloud warriors) that aroused their “detective” instincts.
Dr.
Giffhorn wrote and published a book in 2013 (now in its first
revision and dated 2014). It is entitled: Wurde
Amerika in der Antike entdeckt? Karthager,
Kelten und das Rätsel der Chachapoya (Was
America Discovered in Ancient Times? Carthaginians, Celts and
the Riddle of the Chachapoya), ( € 18.95, available from
www.amazon.de), © Verlag C.H. Beck oHG , Munich, 2014. On Page 9
of his book, Dr. Hans Giffhorn summed up the World “status
quo” pretty well, as translated:
“A
connection between the ancient cultures of the Mediterranean and the
cultures of the New World has never existed, and all early
civilizations of South America emerged without any influence from the
Old World. The cultural policy of the Latin American countries and
the International experts agree on this.”
Notwithstanding,
he asserts that the “several features” that he stumbled
onto are really valid existing coincidences that he has researched
and are the solid proof that we have been looking for. The sources of
the “several features” could only have been the “old
World” in ancient times. In other words, the “several
features” point to known Mediterranean sources and could not
have happened in splendid isolation to the heirs of the Bering Sea
migration over the Ice-Age bridge near Alaska, as we have been
repeatedly told.
These
Chachapoya were a culture whose descendants are now found in
northeast Peru in a large area 300 Kilometers (188 miles) north-south
direction and 230 Kilometers (144 miles) east-west direction (27,072
square miles); mostly in the western part of the Province of
Amazonas. It goes without saying that the Andes topography of this
area contains vertical cliffs and other hair-raising straight-up and
down trails. Everywhere were terraces and irrigation systems for a
productive agriculture (the Spanish conquerors had let the systems
run down and the terraces disappeared and the land now supports only
a small percent of what it had 500 to 1,000 years before). Since
1843, other researchers and Academics have published papers and books
about this ancient culture whose traces are to be seen in Peru high
up in the Andes. But, perhaps none has been so persistent and vocal
using modern media means as has Dr. Hans Giffhorn. The topic is not
new but the wide publicity is.
He
was contacted for input into the production of a Television program
by the French Television Channel ARTE (now broadcasting in Germany);
ARTE Title: Karthagos vergessene Krieger (Carthage’s Forgotten
Warriors), in the German language, 2014. It has been broadcast to
European audiences at least four times, so far.
Practically
simultaneously, an American program was produced on the same topic;
PBS: Carthage’s Lost Warriors, now available as a DVD in
English (SEDE 6133 @ $ 19.99), © ZDF 2014. This is a
reprint edition of PBS’ long-running program SECRETS OF THE
DEAD and was broadcast as Episode # 3 (4/2/2014). The program was
produced under the auspices of ZDF, ARTE, S4C and WNET Thirteen (New
York Public Media).
And
now Professor Giffhorn has introduced a brand new DVD bringing
interested viewers up to date on his research: KELTISCHE KRIEGER IM
ANTIKEN PERU (Celtic warriors in Ancient Peru), in the German
language, ( € 17.50, available from www.amazon.de), ©
SPIEGEL History, 2016. Therein is documented almost a score of
coincidences between old and new World cultures on this topic -
each one more astounding than the previous.
The
Phoenix Television station in Germany broadcast a program Wednesday,
17 August 2016, entitled: ZDF - History Krieger aus dem Nebel - Das
Geheimnis der Andean Mumien (Warriors of the Fog - The Secret of the
Andean Mummies). This program in the German language documented the
efforts of Dr. Peter Lerche*, a long time resident of the region of
the Chachapoyas, who led an expedition to fathom just how the
Chachapoyas were able to bury their dead as Mummies in caves at such
heights in vertical walls without modern rock-climbing gear.
1843?
Not a new topic? -- well then, what is all the furor about ? The
Chachapoya culture center lies on a mountain top in the Andes at an
altitude of 3,000 meters (9,843 feet). It is a Fortress with walls 20
meters high (66 feet) and 8 meters thick (26 feet) and runs for 1,200
meters (1.2 Kilometers or ¾ of a mile) that was built starting
sometime after the time changeover from B.C. to A.D. (probably not
later than 400 A.D.) and seems as big as Machu Picchu (which was
built by the Incas a thousand years later in 1,450 A.D.). The name of
the Chachapoya Fortress is Kuelap. It was discovered by a Judge named
Don Juan Crisóstomo Nieto in 1843 who was trying to settle a
boundry dispute by investigating on mule-back. He was the first to
have estimated that the standard-sized blocks used in its
construction have a volume 3 times greater than the Cheops pyramid of
Egypt. They are laid in straight rows on top of each other (like we
lay bricks or cement blocks but without mortar) and are not cyclopean
in size as are the later Inca Monuments (some non-standard sized Inca
blocks weigh tons. The later Incas became masters at trimming the
odd-shaped big blocks to an exact rounded fit - also without mortar -
giving extreme stability even during earthquakes).
Most
all of the buildings within the Fortress are circular in form
(including 415 round stone houses). The Spanish Celts built stone
houses this way (all other cultures -- Greeks, Romans, Carthaginians
& Phoenicians -- built their houses rectangular). It was
forgotten for over a hundred years until it was investigated again in
detail by Federico Kauffmann Doig in 1997. Classical Archaeologist
Dr. Karin Hornig of Freiburg, Germany, characterizes these
differences and their significance for the probative value of
parallel cultures this way, as translated: "Many cultures are
characterized by distinctive architectural forms. This applies not
only to the appearance of buildings, but also for the masonry; the
structure betrays its author like a giant fingerprint. .....
Given the surprising similarities between the Fortress walls of
Kuelap and those of the Iberian Peninsula one may assume an
appropriate cultural influence."
*
In April 1997, the Ethnologist Dr. Peter Lerche was asked to help
secure a huge discovery of Mummies at Lake Condor, 80 Kilometers
south of the city of Chachapoyas. In a frenzy, professional grave
robbers (Huaceros) had practically destroyed the site trying to find
valuables. The photos documenting the site and the damage went ‘round
the World. As a result of his efforts to salvage what was left, the
DISCOVERY CHANNEL and NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC produced exciting reports
about the ancient culture. Additionally, in the year 2,000, the
University of Vienna and the Austrian Government built a small Museum
in Leymebamba where the more than 200 Mummies now repose in a
climate-controlled atmosphere. Dr. Peter Lerche was elected Mayor of
the Province capital Chachapoyas for the four year period
2,007-2,011.
While
it is an enduring monument leaving the viewer incredulous as to how
this all got constructed up there at such a height, it is still not
really what all the fuss is about. The recent excitement has to do
with people -- the modern descendants of the Chachapoyas. Most South
American Indian Tribes have inherited dark complexions and jet-black
hair. But, many Chachapoyas have light skins, blonde or reddish hair
and dark brown eyes. In the media, some publications said “blue
eyes” but this was a misquote. Some European Celts have have
blue or green eyes with the blonde or reddish hair and fair skin.
Until now, such features were passed off by the Indians themselves
with a shrug saying: “We don’t know where we got this
look.” Again up until now, the Archaeologists, Anthropologists
and Paleontologists all said the same. Such “white”
Indians are called “Gringuitos” (little Gringos) by the
locals.
Modern
technology has now given us the means to find out about the source of
this variation from the “norm” (an anomaly). Recent
research using saliva samples reveals a DNA similarity with the
Celtic people of northwest Spain -- the ancient Castro Culture of
Galicia near the modern Atlantic-facing Province of La Coruῆa.
“Factoring in” Geography and Time, the newest DNA
research techniques are able to rule-out any effect of the possible
mixing of the Chachapoya Indian population with the Conquistadors or
later European contacts that might be used to invalidate early old
World contacts. One Reviewer of the new DVD said, as translated: “If
we understand the DNA results correctly, it was mostly males who
mixed with the Chachapoya.”
In
the 16th Century, Spanish chroniclers writing about the era of the
Incas (1,200 A.D - 1,538 A.D.) had already documented the same
features (blonde or reddish hair and brown eyes and light skin). They
said that while the Incas had beaten (but just barely subdued) the
Chachapoyas in 1,470 A.D., they were still a fiercely independent
Tribe; that their sling warriors were stalwart (strong and brave) and
that the Women were very beautiful and, because of their eyes and
hair and light skin, some were kidnapped to be the consorts of the
Inca Rulers. They were also astounded that the Women participated
equally in all events of war and peace -- a later documented Celtic
trait (Indian Women usually only worked in the fields, cooked and
tended the children).
The
Chachapoyas, at first, thought that the Spanish Conquerers were there
in 1,535 A.D. to liberate them from the Inca rule. Unbelieveably, in
1,538 A.D., 150,000 Incas were beaten by 200 Conquistadors after a
one-year long battle for Cusco, the Inca capital. But, the
Conquistadors had help; warriors of the Cañaris Tribe from
South Equador and sling warriors from the nearby Chachapoya Tribe
combined to provide a 40,000 man army that furnished tide-turning
assistance. Much to their chagrin, the Chachapoyas then found out
that they, also, were to be ruled by the Spaniards. Sadly, by then it
didn’t matter much; after the Conquistadors followed the
epidemics of Smallpox, Influenza and Measles, etc., decimating the
Chachapoyas and other Tribes over the generations.
It
is a fact that the area is so remote that even the Spanish
Conquistadors went there as little as possible -- as a consequence,
there was very little mixing of the two peoples. As a further
favorable result for modern researchers, ancient Chachapoya family
names are not difficult to recognize and identify for the the DNA
testing - Mother, Father, Grandfather, Grandmother, etc.
And
so, the hypothesis was born -- their ancestors must have come from
the old World on a one-way trip and then mixed with the Chachapoyas.
Now, just exactly when and how did the ancestors of those Chachapoyas
(present in the 16th Century) get to northwest Peru and almost two
miles straight-up in the Andes?
Piecing
Together the Chronicle of the Immigrants
Before
the fall of Carthage to Rome in the Third and final Punic War (146
B.C.), the Romans had furthered their territorial gains by occupying
Spain beginning in 200 B.C.. In the northwest of Spain was located
the Celtic Castro Culture of Galicia which covered the modern
Province of La Coruῆa on the Atlantic coast. The Balearic
Islands (Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera) were occupied later
in 123 B.C.. Here lived the stalwart warriors whose weapons, greatly
feared by the Romans, were “slings” (slingshots) of
deadly aim that could send a rock projectile hurtling their way
almost the size of an Orange.
Part
of the hypothesis is that the Atlantic coastal people, rather than
letting themselves be crushed by the Roman occupation, chose to be
free. After all, who would want to be crucified (an ugly,
specifically ROMAN, punishment) for some infraction afoul of Roman
Law? They connived to get hooked-up with the survivors of Carthage
(with their nautical know-how), and taking along some fierce sling
warriors from the Baleric Islands, immigrated to a land reputed to be
beyond the high seas.
Let
me say that none of the ancient writers such as Hesiod, Herodotus,
Strabo, Pliny, Pausanius, or Diodorus Siculus could say exactly what
was going on beyond the “Pillars of Hercules”
(Gibraltar). It was well known that the Phoenicians and Carthaginians
both had demanded strict secrecy (upon penalty of death) from their
Sailors about routes and destinations. One famous story concerns a
Captain on the way to the “Tin Isles” (Great Britain) who
was followed by a Roman vessel. He beached his ship in northern Spain
and burnt it. After he and his crew made their way back to home Port,
his Superiors gladly paid for a new ship and “patted him on the
back” to boot for upholding the regulations.
But
rumor is as old as the Human Race. Usually there is a kernel of truth
behind each fable. And if “wild travel tales” surfaced
they soon became part of the cultural tradition . . . even without
the documentation or confirmation of any famous ancient writer. And
the subdued Phoenicians and Carthaginians were no longer in control
of the Sailors so there were no more deadly Secrets. It would not be
so “far out” to believe that a folk gazing often out at
the wild Atlantic from northwestern Spain would be willing to “risk
it” when traveling with the very Mariners who possessed the
Secrets and who would be protected by island sling warriors at their
destination.
Dare
we speculate, that for the next few years, whenever the Romans
weren’t looking, a ship or two embarked on the trip. That could
mean, over time, the departure of hundreds of immigrants all carrying
the same specific cultural traditions and engineering know-how. Or
maybe, as the DNA results suggest, only male adventurers - no
families. But where to ?
The
closest landfall was what is now called South America; namely Brazil.
A stopping point was an Island just off the coast called Marajó
located in the estuary of the Amazon River. Pre-Columbian ceramics
appeared there suddenly in great numbers about 2,000 years ago and
were found by Archaeologists to have the same spiral designs as
pottery from the Celts in northwestern Spain (this ceramic “pottery”,
when used for carrying water on ships, out-performed the mildewed
wooden casks of Columbus by a wide margin -- because the contents
corrupted slower. Incidentally, this use might account for the great
numbers found). It was also established that local Indians of the
island cremated their dead and buried their ashes in urns. This was
the principal burial form of the Spanish Celts and was unusual for
Indians for this time period in South America.
After
a while there, the stream of immigrants moved on up the Amazon River
leaving traces of their passage. There is a place called Pedro do
inga. A flood of epigraphics by the hundreds is displayed on hard
gneiss rock. These could only have been made with a tempered steel
chisel -- something not available in South America until after the
Conquistadors and the 16th Century. The patina shows them to be at
least hundreds of years older.
At
a tributary of the Amazon River, namely the Rio Guaporé, an ax
head was found when a draining ditch was being dug. There was an
animal head cast on it as an ornament on the opposite side of the
cutting edge. The University of São Paulo failed in exactly
dating the metal but the C14 analysis of the wooden handle remains
showed it was taken from a live tree about 500 A.D or 1,000 years
before Columbus. Analysis of the metal showed it was 61% Copper and
39 % Zink. This was brass and they concluded that it could not have
been created by the local Indians of that time period. The smelting
process to obtain it was known in the Mediterranean area around 300
B.C. by the Romans who made coins from it. Incidentally, there is no
such animal in South America (as depicted by the casting - somewhat
like a horned-sheep or goat or deer). The usual indigenous animals
used in decorations were Lamas, Condors, big Snakes, Jaguars and
Apes.
The
Coincidences
In
our text, we have already identified a few items common to the
Chachapoyas and the Celtiberians:
AS PROOF OF
CHACHAPOYA CELTIBERIA
HYPOTHESIS
Trepanation.
This medical technique is amazing and appalling at the same time.
Ostensibly, it was done by ancient folk to let the evil spirits out
or it could have been to relieve the presure from an injury to the
skull by a sling projectile. World-wide investigation of ancient
skulls reveals that this was not necessarily a rare thing and often
the patient lived and the wound healed. The skulls of the ancient
Chachapoyas displaying small holes in the bone were somewhat
different. The hole was tapered and conical. This means that the
borer was shaped larger at its base and smaller at the point. The
question became, where in the World could this special technique have
come from ? The Incas also practiced trepanation but this source of
knowledge was discarded early on because their culture was so much
newer - even though they also used a conical borer (they added
another facet - they bored holes in a circle and then lifted the bone
plate out). No other place in the Americas was this medical technique
found. In Europe and the Middle East, this medical operation has been
known for about two thousand years - a similarly altered skull was
found in a collection from a Celtic Tribe from the Balkan Peninsula -
but there they used a special instrument called a “Crowntrepan”
that was invented by Greek Doctors about 500 B.C.. But then the
astonishing discovery. A collection of skulls located at the
University of Barcelona from Son Real, the most important ancient
excavation of the Island of Majorca, showed the same features. The
Spanish Neuro-Surgeon and Paleontologist Doménec Campillo was
amazed at the photographs made of the Chachapoya skulls and their
exactly duplicated technique. He allowed as how such Trepanation was
also practiced on the mainland opposite this Balearic island. How
then, can this be called an accidental coincidence? Thus,
Trepanation findings are a strong support for the hypothesis: Their
ancestors must have come from the old World on a one-way trip and
then mixed with the Chachapoyas.
Wearing
Slings around head. War was part of the life of the Chachapoya. Not
just against enemies but also internal strife was evident. What were
their weapons? The Chachapoya used a different kind of weapon - the
sling (shot). It was used by the Celts of the Balearic Islands. It
was also well known in the entire ancient Mediterranean area as far
back as 2,000 B.C. but was never known in the Amazon basin area. The
Amazon Indians used blow-guns, bows and arrows. At higher ground
above the bogs and swamps, sling ammunition was cheap and the sling
was easy to fabricate. Over the years, it was formed in different
materials and used in different ways. Slings from different Museums
were compared.
The
U.S. National Museum in Washington D.C. has a collection of
pre-Columbian slings. They were placed there by the renowned
Archaeologist Philip Ainsworth Means. He concluded that the sling was
never found north of Mexico and California and never south from north
Chile and north Argentina and never east of the Andes. He zeroed-in
on western South America or northern Peru.
The
Incas also used slings but they were fabricated differently. A
modern sport sling-Champion was consulted from Majorca. He was
astounded to find that the Chachapoya slings found in the early
graves were exactly like his own winning sling (slings from the
Chachapoya Museum in Leymebamba and those of Ibiza and Majorca were
identical). The modern sling-Champion demonstrated how a sling can be
worn wrapped around the head three times (as three “belts”).
The conclusion: that the sling(shots) from Majorca were brought as
preferred weapons to the Chachapoyas area over two thousand years ago
and that this was the starting point for the further spread of the
slingshot in America. Thus, sling technology is strong support for
the hypothesis: Their ancestors must have come from the old World on
a one-way trip and then mixed with the Chachapoyas.
Tuberculosis.
As a modest “thank-you” for the financing and building
of a small Museum in Leymebamba in the year 2,000, a dozen Lake
Condor Mummies were “loaned” to the University of Vienna
for research. In 2,006, came the electrifying Press announcement:
traces of Tuberculosis were found. As of 2,003, the state of medical
technology facilitated identifying Tuberculosis cases from Italy and
Egypt and could go as far back as six thousand years. The dating of
the Chachapoya cases put them well before Columbus. So, how did it
get there. They first thought of the Bering Strait migration which
started about 15,000 years ago but ended 11,000 years ago because the
Ice-age ended and the route became permanently submerged. If the
infection was brought in over this route, there should have been
traces of it found at different times and places. Down to 5,000 years
ago in the new World, no Tuberculosis had been found. It came later.
Therefore the Bering Strait thesis was ruled out, once and for all.
Then they thought of the Vikings who landed about 1,000 A.D., but to
their surprise, the oldest case was not found in North America (where
the Vikings landed) but was found in South America in a member of the
western Nazca Culture (southern Peru, 100 B.C. to 800 A.D.) who lived
about 2,000 years ago. So, once and for all, the Vikings were ruled
out. In eastern South America and in the entire Amazon basin there
were no cases of Tuberculosis until after the arrival of the
Conquistadors. Yet, Tuberculosis did arrive about 2,000 years ago to
western South America. In the course of time, northwesten Peru and
the Lake Condor Chachapoyas got infected also. Then it was discovered
by the Paleopathologist Professor Dr. Dr. Michael Schultz (President
of the Paleopathology Association of the USA) and reported to Dr.
Hans Giffhorn that Mr. Gerald Conologue from the Quinnipiac
University of Hamden, Connecticut had been quietly X-Raying the Lake
Condor Mummies from the Leymebamba Museum. He made 900 exposures
from 188 Mummies in 2,000 and 2,001. Along with the year 2,006 bone
Tuberculosis results announced by the University of Vienna, it was
verified that he had found lung Tuberculosis. But the shocker was the
rate - up to 20% of the Mummies had had TB. In medical terms, this is
an explosion of cases. We can digest the fact that there is a strong
probability that the TB infection came from the old World - but how
could the carriers, themselves, survive the trip? The researchers had
the answer to that. A people who raise cattle over the centuries
somehow can become partially immunized against TB. They can carry it
without suffering the ravages of the disease. The Celtiberians from
northestern Spain fit the profile - raising cattle and animal
husbandry were their forte since 2,000 B.C.. Even now, they are a
leading producer of Milk and Milk products. Thus, Tuberculosis
findings are a strong support for the hypothesis: Their ancestors
must have come from the old World on a one-way trip and then mixed
with the Chachapoyas.
Burying
the Dead as a Mummy. We have already pointed out that the natives of
the landfall Island Marajó were found to be cremating their
dead and burying their ashes in urns. Dr. Giffhorn asserted that this
was the principal burial form of the Spanish Celts and was unusual
for this time period in South America for local Tribes. Obviously,
this was one ancient native culture yielding to another (arriving)
culture for one reason or another. . . . . perhaps out of awe or
respect. Why then, the sudden turn-about by the immigrants after
arriving at the Chachapoya area and the creation of effigies and
burials of Mummies within caves on mountain sides at inaccessible
heights? Perhaps it was because of the strong belief of the
indigenous Peruvian people (also embraced by the Chachapoyas) in an
after life.
The
Conquistadors had discovered this belief and had flaunted it in the
face of the multitudes of Incas. The last Inca emperor Atahualpa,
whose mother had been a captured Chachapoya, was murdered by
strangulation on 26 July 1,533 after being baptized. His body was
then burned by the harsh Spaniards because life after death was
impossible without it. This had the desired result - it struck horror
in the Incas.
In
other words, the opposite happened here - the Celtiberians yielded
their own cremation-funeral and urn- burial practices over to the
mummification practices of the host Chachapoya Tribe to give due
respect to their strong belief in life after death. One curious
thing, though, the Chachapoyas positioned their mummies in Embryo
form - there is no evidence that the Celts or Carthaginians ever
fashioned their dead this way. Thus, Mumification findings are only a
mild support for the hypothesis: Their ancestors must have come from
the old World on a one-way trip and then mixed with the Chachapoyas.
Wall
Zig-zag Decoration. The stone walls in the Chachappoya area were
often emblazoned with a design that had no other function except as
decoration. It was like a Roman Numeral five (V). Sometimes,
sideways. It appeared on door-frames and other places. The same
design has been found, used the same way, in Celtic excavations and
reconstructions in Ireland and Wales and Spain. See below:
Thus,
Zig-Zag Decorations are a mild support for the hypothesis: Their
ancestors must have come from the old World on a one-way trip and
then mixed with the Chachapoyas.
Trophy
Heads Cult-Skulls. The cutting off of the heads of enemies and
displaying them prominently as trophies was a cult of the Chachapoya.
It was the same with the Spanish Celts. Both cultures displayed
actual skulls hung in meeting places, on sarcophaguses, and
decorating the outside of stone houses. The picture art of both
cultures shows separated heads, frequently.
Trophy
Heads Cult-Engravings. The head cult went one step further with both
cultures. Facial portraits were sculpted in relief and appear in
walls and monuments and buildings. The Spanish Archaeologists call
these: Cabezas cortadas (chopped-off heads). These half-reliefs of
both cultures show perfectly round eyes and prominent noses.Thus,
Cult skulls and Cult engravings findings are a mild support for the
hypothesis: Their ancestors must have come from the old World on a
one-way trip and then mixed with the Chachapoyas.
Folk
Music. At village festivals in the Chachapoya area of Peru, the
people dance to the music of a musician who holds a flute in one hand
and plays a melody of only four notes while simultaneously beating on
a drum fastened to the hip with the other hand. The residents say
that this art of music is played only here; nowhere else. Dr.
Giffhorn asserts that the same melody is recognizable and is still to
be found in the Mediterranean area on the Balearic island of Ibiza.
It is called “La Rondada” and is played exactly in the
same way - one hand for the flute and one hand for the drum. He
further says that this rural folk music is originally from the
Carthaginians, the former rulers of Ibiza which he documented in a
Bavarian TV (BR 3) program in 2,001 entitled: “Ibiza - Rätsel
der Vergangenheit” (Ibiza - Riddle of the Past). As graves
showed, the Panflute was also used by the Chachapoyas, long before
the rise of the Incas. The Celtic sheepherders of Ibiza also play an
archaic form of the Panflute called the Xeremia. Thus, traditional
folk music is a mild support for the hypothesis: Their ancestors must
have come from the old World on a one-way trip and then mixed with
the Chachapoyas.
Scorecard
I
have shown 16 items that bind the new World Chachapoya culture to the
old World. Seven of them I identified as STRONG proof for the
hypothesis. Nine items, I have identified as milder proof of the
hypothesis but still very significant.
Commentary
There
are stronger conclusions to come from all of this -- It probably took
centuries for the blending of the Celtiberian and Chachapoya cultures
to be so complete that a later researcher would have great difficulty
in determining which was dominant at any given time . . . . or from
whence each came. It is evident that the Celtiberians and
Chachapoyas lived side-by-side in mutual respect of their cultures
with daily as well as long-range give and take; not just passively
“mixing into” the population. They probably fought
enemies together with the (minority) Celtiberians taking Wives and
becoming full members of the Tribe with a high status of respect and
admiration. They built massive structures (for defense) and housing
areas with intelligent sewage systems and mountain-side terraces and
irrigation projects and a network of roads paved with dressed stones
together; each relying on the unique talents and traditions of the
other.
And
in both cultures, there has never been any trace of a ruling elite or
a religious elite with a drive to build ostentatious and overwhelming
monuments, as did, for instance, the later Incas.
Freedom
from rule seemed to be their joint goal.
~
" The pictures are enthralling. Use the following LINK to Google Images. Then type in the words “chachapoya peru” or “kuelap” and sit back to view the hundreds of images that show up.
After
the show, then type in the words: “Spanish Celts” and be astounded at
the architectural similarities whenever buildings or monuments or ruins
are shown."
https://www.google.com/imghp
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won't know where to send it.)
Richard
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