German may have beaten the Americans to lost Inca city of Machu Picchu

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Telegraph

German may have beaten the Americans to lost Inca city of Machu Picchu
Published: Monday 2, June 2008 - 10:16

When Peruvian locals led Hiram Bingham to Machu Picchu in 1911, it was a discovery which would make the Yale professor famous, highly respected and richer.

Bingham went on to become a governor of Connecticut and member of the US senate, and his book on Machu Picchu became a bestseller. Such was his prominence in early 20th century archaeology, that some have speculated that Bingham was the inspiration for the character of Indiana Jones.

But Bingham's claim to be the first to discover Peru's lost city of the Incas is looking more than a little doubtful. Detailed investigations by a US historian have revealed that Machu Picchu was, in fact, discovered over 40 years earlier by a German businessman.

Little is known about Augusto R Berns, an obscure entrepreneur now largely lost to history, but documents unearthed in US and Peruvian archives by the American historian Paolo Greer, reveal that Berns discovered Peru's most famous archaeological site in the late 1860s before setting up a company specifically to loot Machu Picchu and its immediate surroundings.



Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/article3757966.ece?service=print

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[Indenturedebtor]

1. OOOoo but the Peruvians beat the Germans

I love this "discovered" blah blah.

It would be like someone claiming that they "discovered" my dirty laundry pile when they came over to my house for the first time.

"Gadzooks! So this is the great Stinkamunga! I claim these yellowed socks in the name of Queen Victoria tut tut! Smashing! Have some beads, a bible, and this communicable disease. Now run along and plant some sugar. Righto!"

[aquart]

2. Oh, there's the voice of education. "Discovered" is the right word.

Because these legendary, mostly forgotten cities were buried in jungle. The national governments didn't know where they were. Some locals, maybe...but the state they were all in in early photos say no, not even locals knew where most of these places were, the concealment was that total.

Early discoverers did loot. They were after treasure, especially gold. They messed up sites all over the world.

But your snotty attitude is exactly the same as theirs. You think you are enlightened and civilized and the other guys inconsequential and deserving of derision and scorn. Yep. Your attitude is exactly like theirs. It's the stinking reek of superiority.

[bean fidhleir]

3. I think you've got it exactly backwards.

ID was making the point that "discovered" is a chauvinistic term when applied to a first-worlder being shown something that local people already knew about.

[cstanleytech]

4. Well that part is true.

I always grin when someone says Columbus discovered america and then of course I have to point out that no, the native americans did that lol

[Indenturedebtor]

6. Yeah I think "encountered" might be more appropriate n/t

[Indenturedebtor]

5. Did you read the OP?

"When Peruvian locals led Hiram Bingham to Machu Picchu in 1911, it was a discovery which would make the Yale professor famous, highly respected and richer. "

Notice the first four words "When Peruvian locals led".

[heliarc]

7. When I went to Macchu Picchu

the funniest thing was that the Peruvian pack carriers -wearing beat up sandals-- that the German and American tourists hire to carry supplies up the Inca Trail get to the top a full 4 hours before the tourists wearing merrels and hiking boots.

Being at that altitude kicks your a$$. I spent 2 days getting over the altitude sickness.