We were not sure if the sky would be clear enough to fly over the Nazca lines so in the morning we visited the Chauchilla cemetery in Nazca and saw a few mummies. Watched a local potter and found out how the locals pan for gold.
Did you know?
The Nazca Desert area was home to the ancient Nazca culture from about 200 AC to 800 DC. (So these mummies are over 1,500 years old) The forgotten Culture of Nazca was discovered in the sands of the Nasca Desert by grave robbers and archaeologists.
In the Chauchilla Cemetery, bodies from the ancient Nazca people were preserved by natural mummification in the arid climate. Through their habit of burying their people, this Culture left to us mummies, ceramics, colorful textiles, skull and devices, practically untouched.
Unfortunately, it was a known location by thieves or tombs robbers. They used to invade the tombs, picked the treasures and the mantles, and just left the mummies and some belongs of less importance exposed on the desert. Now they are protected and a tourist attraction. There were about 10 open tombs each with different mummies. You can see that their hair was really long and that they were buried with cloth. There was an archaeologist there when we visited who laid out the body and artifacts next to him.
After seeing a couple of mummies I was ready to go. They did not look very nice, but suppose was interesting.
Tombs at the Chauchilla Cemetery
Archaeologist at the Chauchilla Cemetery
Seeing a local potter make some replicas of ancient Inca pottery was much nicer than seeing mummies. I bought a small pot and hope to get it home in one piece.
Local potter
"There is gold up in dem hills!!" and local Nazca men, women and children pan the gold and sell it to earn a living. It is in clay so has to be extracted by pounding the clay with a large stone and by chemical (Mercury)extraction.
To be honest I was not really listening to how they extracted gold, I think my brain was in need of chocolate. But Colette who has a degree in Chemistry probably understood it all.
COLETTE - Can you explain how they extracted gold. I was sort of lost at the glove and mercury stage?
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