Tello’s
1937 expedition to explore the Upper Marañon river basin and Peru’s northern
coastal valleys was aimed at uncovering evidence that the Andean Chavín culture
had spread to the coastal plain and influenced later civilizations there.
An
enormous mound, Sechín Alto, in the Casma Valley just
over 300km north of Lima had always been
visible from the roadway. But an unexpected discovery close by was to lead
Tello and his team to stay far longer in the valley than originally planned.
fig. 1
The locals led them to a place they knew as el Indio Bravo, so called because of a
human face carved on a large rock there. As it turned out this face was only
part of a stone that was still three quarters buried underground. Tello was
eventually to discover over ninety more, and the Cerro
Sechín temple is now famous for the monolithic
façade that he uncovered and Hernan sketched.
The huge stones depict warrior like figures
carrying clubs or staffs, surrounded by naked victims and their severed body
parts. The
Sechín complex forms today one of the largest
and most ancient monumental sites in Peru.
Local tomb raiders as always played their part in the
discoveries. Tello seems to have taken a pragmatic approach to these huaqueros.
He understood that, whilst he fought against the destruction they wrought, he
was also reliant on them to lead him to new sites.
But the relationship didn’t always yield results.
Casma (’s) bull
In which an enterprising huaquero excites some interest
We had been in Casma for several weeks, and by now a
large amount of monoliths had been discovered in the Temple
of Sechín that we had unearthed. Tello, worked from six to six, and had filled
four volumes of notes on these remarkable discoveries. One day, as we were about to start work, it was evident he was itching
to share some potentially exciting news with me.
