Raid of Ancient Peruvian City Unearths Ethical Questions of Exploration
http://outside.away.com/outside/news/20050907_1.html"Looters have plundered the ruins of Gran Saposoa, an ancient city that was recently discovered in the isolated mountains of Peru over 330 miles northeast of Lima, raising old questions about the ethics of exploration and discovery.
The ruins were first announced to the world in 1999 and were thought to be a major find for the study of pre-Incan civilization. However, an expedition to further explore and survey the ruins found several of the stone tombs destroyed and artifacts missing, including the stone head of a prominent sculpture in the most important set of ruins.
“It was very sad and disheartening to our teams because we are there to make known these areas so the government can protect them,” Sean Savoy, the leader of the 23-day August expedition, told Outside Online.
Savoy’s father, Gene Savoy, an accomplished Andean explorer, discovered the site in 1999, while looking for Chajamarquilla, one of the lost cities of the Chachapoya civilization, a group that flourished before the Incas.
..."I know there is good and decency in the world. Sometimes, however, it's quite difficult to remember that.