The discovery of the Lord of Sipan in Peru

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 29 February 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1987, Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva received a call from the police urging him to look at ancient artefacts confiscated from looters.

The seized objects were so precious that Walter decided to set up camp in Sipan, the site where they were found. There, he dug and researched what turned out to be the richest tomb found intact in the Americas: the resting place of an ancient ruler, the Lord of Sipan.

Walter tells Stefania Gozzer about the challenges and threats he and his team faced to preserve the grave.

The music from this programme was composed by Daniel Hernández Díaz and performed by Jarana & Son.

(Photo: Walter beside the discovery. Credit: Walter Alva)

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and trust me you'll get there in a moment but if you're a comedy fan
0:05.2	I'd really like to tell you a bit about what we do. I'm Julie Mackenzie and I commission comedy
0:10.1	podcast at the BBC. It's a bit of a dream job really. Comedy is a bit of a dream job really.
0:13.0	Comedy is a fantastic joyous thing to do because really you're making people laugh,
0:18.0	making people's days a bit better, helping them process, all manner of things.
0:22.0	But you know, I also know that comedy is really
0:24.3	subjective and everyone has different tastes. So we've got a huge range of comedy on offer from
0:29.8	satire to silly, shocking to soothing, profound to just general pratting about.
0:35.0	So if you fancy a laugh, find your next comedy at BBC Sounds. This is the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Stefania Gotzer.
0:51.6	Today I'm taking you back to 1987 when the looting of an ancient
0:57.2	pyramid in the north of Peru led to the discovery of the first royal tomb found intact in South America, the resting place of the
1:07.0	Lord of Sippan. It's a story of drug-induced dreams, a scientist who was threatened with guns and gold.
1:16.0	It's a warm February evening in the coastal region of Lambagege and Walter Alva, the director of the only the but... there was an ancient sight being looted and that they needed me there. I was having
1:45.6	some respiratory issues but the sheriff said you must come when you see what we have
1:50.6	here the disease will go away. He was choking, but it turned out to be true, because
1:56.6	I saw the objects and the following day I was out on the field camping and feeling healthy.
2:04.0	The police had recovered from Lutars
2:06.2	artifacts that belong to the Mochikas,
2:08.6	a civilization that flourished in the north of Peru
2:11.6	from the first to the seventh century.
2:14.0	Walter didn't know it yet, but he was about to make one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the Americas.
2:21.0	In the police station, we found two feline heads of a divinity made out of gold,
	...

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