Marcahuamachuco, Peru
Pre-Inca City of the Dead
GHF staff survey the condition of the West Gate.
There is an urgent need to systematically retrieve, digitize and organize information from past publications and graphic material, a good deal of which is not available in Peru. This will be a first component where the GHF project can strengthen and support the work of UEM. This process has already been initiated with a visit to the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at University of California, Berkeley, to examine the records of Max Uhle which are archived there.
Based on the available information and that to be collected in the field, as well as up-to-date data on the state of conservation and endangerment of the site, GHF in cooperation with UEM will input into the master conservation process and development of a scientific conservation plan detailing conservation technology and techniques needed and retrieving all available information to support key archaeological documentation of the site (historical, anthropological, interpretative, audiovisual, etc.).
Throughout the implementation of this phase, GHF will support the development and provide professional training for the UEM team with an online database for documentation and mapping, including historical reports from early visitors, anthropological and archaeological studies, graphic materials of the site and other relevant site documentation. Global Heritage Network (GHN) will serve as the online database platform for site- and project documentation and presentation.
As of 2010, the Marcahuamachuco archaeological site did not have official delimitation, zoning or registration in public records of the physical and legal scope of the monument to enable the systematic treatment of its defense and conservation. What is needed is clear delimitation of Marcahuamachuco and buffer zone. GHF will, in collaboration with the UEM, complete mapping of the site and technical documentation for one or two of the major monumental compounds within the site as a model for the entire archaeological complex including detailed relief mapping of the site and of targeted structures, ideally with ground-based LiDAR.
