Inca Gold

    Ortiz suddenly beamed like a strobe light. "The huaqueros and their Solpemachaco bosses were here only long enough to loot the obvious, the artifacts easily found on the surface. It will take years to conduct a thorough archaeological excavation of the Pueblo de los Muertos. I fervently believe the bulk of the treasures have yet to be found."

    Now that Ortiz was in a happy mood, his stomach warmed by numerous glasses of white brandy, Pitt circled around from left field. "Tell me, Alberto, are you an expert on legends dealing with lost Inca treasure after the Spanish came?"

    Ortiz lit a long, narrow cigar and puffed until the end turned red and smoke curled into the dank and increasingly cold night air. "I only know of a few. Tales of lost Inca treasure might not be found in abundant lots if my ancestral cultures had made detailed accounts of their everyday existence. But unlike the Mayans and Aztecs of Mexico, the cultures of Peru did not leave behind an abundance of hieroglyphic symbols. They never devised an alphabet or ideographic system of communication. Except for a scattering of designs on buildings, ceramic pots, and textiles, the records of their lives and legends are few."

    "I was thinking of the lost treasure of Huascar," said Pitt.

    "You've heard of that one?"

    "Dr. Kelsey recounted it. She described an immense golden chain that sounded a bit farfetched."

    Ortiz nodded. "That part of the legend happens to be true. The great Inca king, Huayna Capac, decreed that a huge gold chain be cast in honor of the birth of his son, Huascar. Many years later, after Huascar succeeded his father as king, he ordered the royal treasure to be smuggled from the Inca capital at Cuzco and hidden to keep it out of the hands of his brother Atahualpa, who later usurped the kingdom after a lengthy civil war. The vast hoard, besides the golden chain, included life-size statues, thrones, sun disks, and every insect and animal known to the Incas, all sculpted in gold and silver and set with precious gems."

    "I've never heard of a treasure that grand," said Gu

    "The Incas had so much gold they couldn't understand why the Spanish were so fanatical for it. The craze became part of the El Dorado fable. The Spanish died by the thousands searching for the treasure. The Germans and the English, who included Sir Walter Raleigh, all scoured the mountains and jungles, but none ever found it."

    "As I understand it," said Pitt, "the chain and the other art treasures were eventually transported to a land beyond the Aztecs and buried."

    Ortiz nodded. "So the story goes. Whether it was actually taken north by a fleet of ships has never been verified. It was reasonably proven, however, that the hoard was protected by Chachapoyan warriors who formed the royal guard for Inca kings after their confederation was conquered by Huayna Capac in 1480."

    "What is the history of the Chachapoyas?" asked Gu

    "Their name means Cloud People," replied Ortiz. "And their history has yet to be written. Their cities, as you well know from recent experience, are buried in one of the most impenetrable jungles of the world. As of this date, archaeologists have neither the funds nor the means to conduct extensive surveys and excavations on Chachapoyan ruins."

    "So they remain an enigma," said Pitt.

    "In more ways than one. The Chachapoya people, according to the Incas, were fair-ski

    Pitt was intrigued. "Close to seven feet?"

    "Easily," Ortiz answered.

    "Any possibility they might have been descendants of early explorers from the Old World, perhaps the Vikings who might have sailed across the Atlantic, up the Amazon, and settled in the Andes?"

    "Theories of early transoceanic migration to South America across both the Atlantic and the Pacific have always abounded," answered Ortiz. "The fancy term for pre-Columbian travel to and from other continents is diffusionism. An interesting concept, not well accepted but not entirely ignored either."

    "Is there evidence?" asked Giordino.

    "Mostly circumstantial. Ancient pottery found in Ecuador that has the same designs as the Ainu culture of northern Japan. The Spanish, as well as Columbus, reported seeing white men sailing large ships off Venezuela. The Portuguese found a tribe in Bolivia whose beards were more magnificent than the Europeans', contrary to the fact that most Indians lacked abundant facial hair. Reports of -livers and fishermen finding Roman or Grecian amphorae in the waters off Brazil come up routinely."

    The giant stone heads from the Olmec culture of Mexico show definite features of black Africans," said Pitt, "while any number of carved stone faces throughout the Mesoamerican cultures have Oriental characteristics."

    Ortiz nodded in agreement. "The serpent heads that decorate many of the Mayan pyramids and temples are the spitting image of dragon heads carved in Japan and China."

    "But is there hands-on proof?" asked Gu

    "No objects that can be conclusively proven as manufactured in Europe have yet to be found."

    "The skeptics have a strong case in the lack of pottery lathes or wheeled vehicles," Gu

    "True," agreed Ortiz. "The Mayans did adopt the wheel for children's toys but never for practical use. Not surprising when you consider they had no beasts 'of burden until the Spanish introduced the horse and oxen."

    "But you would think they could have found a purpose for the wheel, say for hauling construction materials," Gu

    "History tells us that the Chinese developed the wheelbarrow six hundred years before it found its way to Europe," Ortiz countered.

    Pitt downed the last of his brandy. "It doesn't seem possible an advanced civilization existed in such a remote region without some kind of outside influence."

    "The people living in the mountains today, descendants of the Chachapoyas, many of them still fair-ski

    "He must have forgotten to teach them how to write," quipped Giordino.

    "Another nail in the coffin of pre-Columbian contact," said Gu

    "This holy man had thick white hair and a flowing beard," Ortiz continued. "He was extremely tall, wore a long white robe, and preached goodness and charity toward all. The rest of the story is too close to that of Jesus to be taken literally-- the natives must have introduced events from Christ's life into the ancient story after they were converted to Christianity. He traveled the land, healing the sick, making the blind see again, working all sorts of miracles. He even walked on water. The people raised temples to him and carved his likeness in wood and stone. None of these portraits, I might add, has ever been found. Almost verbatim, the same myth has come down through the ages from the early Mexican cultures in the form of Quetzalcoatl, the ancient god of old Mexico."

    "Do you believe any part of the legend?" asked Pitt.