Gary C. Daniels is an award-winning, Emmy-nominated television, video and multimedia writer and producer. He has a passion for history, archaeology, and astronomy. He is the founder and publisher of LostWorlds.org.

Recently Excavated Headless Skeleton Expands Understanding Of Ancient Andean Rituals

February 3, 2011February 3, 2011 Gary C. Daniels 0 Comments decapitation, Nasca, Peru

Images of disembodied heads are widespread in the art of Nasca, a culture based on the southern coast of Peru from AD 1 to AD 750. But despite this evidence and large numbers of trophy heads in the region’s archaeological record, only eight headless bodies have been recovered with evidence of decapitation, explains Christina A. Conlee (Texas State University). Conlee’s analysis of a newly excavated headless body from the site of La Tiza provides important new data on decapitation and its relationship to ancient ideas of death and regeneration.

South American Archaeology News

Rare skeleton, jewels found in Bolivia pyramid

February 3, 2011 Gary C. Daniels 0 Comments Bolivia, graves, Tiwanaku

Archeologists have uncovered the 1,300-year-old skeleton of a ruler or priest of the ancient Tiwanaku civilization together with precious jewels inside a much-looted pyramid in western Bolivia.

South American Archaeology News

The New World’s Oldest Calendar

February 3, 2011February 3, 2011 Gary C. Daniels 0 Comments astronomy, Peru

Research at a 4,200-year-old temple in Peru yields clues to an ancient people who may have clocked the heavens

South American Archaeology News

In Peru, scientists discover the oldest solar observatory in the Americas

February 3, 2011 Gary C. Daniels 0 Comments astronomy, Peru

As archaeologists evaluate whether an ancient temple in Buena Vista, Peru, functioned as a calendar, a different research team is preserving the remains of an unusually elaborate astronomical complex just north, in Chankillo. This solar observatory is considered the oldest in the Americas, dating back to the 4th century B.C., and it offers unique physical evidence that a sun cult inhabited Peru at least 1,500 years before the Incas.

South American Archaeology News

Pre-Incan Metallurgy Discovered

February 3, 2011 Gary C. Daniels 0 Comments metalsmithing, Peru

Metals found in lake mud in the central Peruvian Andes have revealed the first evidence for pre-Colonial metalsmithing there.

South American Archaeology News

Ancient “Lost City” Discovered in Peru, Official Claims

February 3, 2011 Gary C. Daniels 0 Comments Inca, Peru

Ruins recently discovered in southern Peru could be the ancient “lost city” of Paititi, according to claims that are drawing serious but cautious response from experts. The presumptive lost city, described in written records as a stone settlement adorned with gold statues, has long been a grail for explorers—as well as a lure for local tourism businesses.

South American Archaeology News

Oldest Gold Artifact in Americas Found

February 3, 2011 Gary C. Daniels 0 Comments Lake Titicaca, Peru

A necklace of gold and turquoise-colored beads at an ancient hunter-gatherer burial site in the Andes Mountains is the oldest crafted gold artifact known in the Americas and challenges the idea that only complex societies could produce such displays of wealth and prestige.

South American Archaeology News

Ancient temple used by Incas discovered

February 3, 2011 Gary C. Daniels 0 Comments Inca, Peru

Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of an ancient temple, roadway and irrigation systems at a famed fortress overlooking the Inca capital of Cuzco, according to officials involved with the dig.

South American Archaeology News

Temple built 4,000 years ago unearthed in Peru

February 3, 2011 Gary C. Daniels 0 Comments Peru

A 4,000-year-old temple filled with murals has been unearthed on the northern coast of Peru, making it one of the oldest finds in the Americas, a leading archaeologist said on Saturday.

South American Archaeology News

Mummified Inca maiden wows crowds

February 3, 2011February 3, 2011 Gary C. Daniels 0 Comments mummy, Peru

Hundreds of people crowded into a museum in the north-western city of Salta to see “la Doncella”, the Maiden. The remains of the girl, who was 15 when she died, were found in an icy pit on top of a volcano in the Andes, along with a younger boy and girl. Researchers believe they were sacrificed by the Incas 500 years ago.

South American Archaeology News

‘Cloud warrior’ ruin may hold clues to lost civilization

February 3, 2011 Gary C. Daniels 0 Comments Chachapoya, Peru

An unusual archeological site discovered in Peru’s mountains may hold clues to the history of the Chachapoya people, known as “cloud warriors,” who fought the Inca Empire before the Spanish conquest.

South American Archaeology News

Brazil sees traces of more isolated Amazon tribes

February 3, 2011 Gary C. Daniels 0 Comments Brazil

Far more Indian groups than previously thought are surviving in Brazil’s Amazon rain forest isolated from the outside world but they risk extermination at the hands of encroaching loggers and miners, experts said on Wednesday.