by Jim Dobson
January 11, 2016

from Forbes Website

 

Many explorers have died searching for Paititi: the Lost City of Gold, and many became convinced that the city was hidden in the last undiscovered regions of the Amazon.

The infamous journeys to discover Paititi were also what inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write "The Lost World."

Much has been documented about the divine sense of quest to discover this magical kingdom. From treasure hunters to archaeologists and explorers, Paititi has until now remained the subject of lore and tribal legend spread through generations.

But now, a remote location in the Peruvian Amazon thought to be the legendary Lost City has been discovered and is the target for a professional expedition taking place this summer.
 

The search for Paititi:

The Lost City of Gold
 

Inca traditions mention a city, deep in the jungle and east of the Andes area of Cusco which could be the last Incan refuge following the Spanish Conquest.

The Spanish conquistadors pillaged Cusco for its gold and silver, they only discovered a small amount of bounty in the capital, and the bulk of the mass treasure has never been found.

Just recently a Spanish Galleon that sunk over 300 years ago, was discovered off the coast of Columbia and possibly holding billions of dollars worth of treasure looted from Peru.

In 2001, Italian archaeologist Mario Polia discovered the report of a missionary named Andres Lopez in the Vatican archives.

In the document, which dates from 1600, Lopez describes in great detail, a large city rich in gold, silver and jewels, located in the middle of the tropical jungle called Paititi by the natives.

Lopez informed the Pope about his discovery and the Vatican has kept Paititi's location secret for decades.

Due to the remote location of the area, as well as dense mountains that have to be traveled, it is no wonder that Paititi remains so hard to find. Currently drug trafficking, illegal logging and oil mining are overtaking this part of Peru, and many amateur explorers that enter are often killed.

Legendary explorer Greg Deyermenjian explains his extraordinary devotion to the area,

"The quest for Paititi, for the furthest presence of the Incas into the selva (jungle) beyond the ranges, began for me after having visited, in 1981, the site of Vilcabamba, the redoubt of Manco Inca - who did finally rebel against the Spaniards after enduring nearly three years of their increasingly harsh rule - at Espíritu Pampa in the forested plains of La Convención province to the northwest of Machu Picchu.

 

It was then that I began to hear about a site which lay hidden somewhere off to the east, where the Andes and the Amazonian rain forests meet in a riot of hills, ravines, and isolated peaks, all covered in jungle and crisscrossed by unnavigable boulder-strewn rivers and streams.

 

And in 1984 I began traveling there, to the north and northeast of Cusco, first in the company of Cusqueño hunters who had made forays well past their holdings in Paucartambo, and then with the Quechua-speaking highland campesinos of Challabamba and Calca that I had met through them."

 

Famed explorer

Greg Deyermenjian

"Beginning in 1994, we allied ourselves with Peru's foremost living explorer, Dr. Carlos Neuenschwander, who had been conducting his own investigation into Paititi and the significance of the Pantiacolla plateau since the 1950's.

 

We were unable to raise funds sufficient for a helicopter, so we found ourselves following branches of the main trail that traverses the Paucartambo Mountains, down to the jungles of Callanga, southeast of Mameria, where we investigated potential sites that were spotted from the air by Dr. Neuenschwander years before.

 

We found the very rough and decayed remains of an ancient Incan, as well as an apparently pre-Incan habitation, and we made a first ascent of another legendary tropical peak, known as "Llaqtapata".

 

On our way back through the remote and dusty highlands of the Cordillera de Lares/Lacco that overlooks the Río Paucartambo/Mapacho, we passed through impressive and finely constructed Incan sites such as Tambocancha and Uncayoc, which must have at one time guarded these routes.

 

 

Gregory Deyermenjian (far left)

on one of his numerous quests for Paititi

(Photo by Javier Zardoya)
 

By 1999, we were in a position to take a helicopter from Cusco, North to the Plateau of Pantiacolla, thanks to our additional alliance with German film maker Heinz von Matthey.

 

We left the helicopter at the furthest point that we had followed as far as we could in 1993. We passed a relatively elaborate Incan retaining wall above the trail, then descended to the headwaters of the Río Timpía.

Over the course of the next week we saw that the rough and totally overgrown trail continued ever downward, through the increasingly broken and precipitous territory of the valley of the Timpía.

 

It was easier to follow the river itself, with its raging waters and huge slippery boulders and logs, than to try to directly follow the totally overgrown and uprooted remnant of a trail clinging to the valley wall a few hundred meters above.

 

 

Thierry Jamin

during an expedition in the National Park of Manú,

a delicate passage on an undiscovered river.

(Photo by Thierry Jamin)
 

After having climbed now upriver, up and out of the cloud forest, to emerge back at the high alturas where we had begun, we soon ran into some wandering vaqueros, cowboys, who had driven the cattle to these lonely grasslands for unlimited grazing.

 

From them we learned of an enchanted lake shaped like a figure "8", astride ancient ruins, in a perpetually rainy and cold area to the northwest.

 

Thanks to the preternatural sense of direction of my long-term expedition partner, Paulino Mamani, as well as my GPS and an aerial photography generated map which showed such an unnamed lake in the area we approached, we found it.

 

And here were a series of low Incan platforms and retaining walls, which, along with the remnants of Incan trail and retaining wall closer to the Timpía, constitute the furthest Incan remains yet found directly north of the Incan capital of Cusco.
 

 

In the valley of Lacco,

Thierry Jamin's expedition team transports supplies.

(Photo by Thierry Jamin)
 

It is here that an unnamed mountain range overlooks the Río Yungaria, a tributary of the Callanga, in the tangled jungles between the zone of Mameria to the north and that of Callanga to the south.

 

I saw the beginnings of this isolated tropical range in 1994, when, from the confluence of the Río Yungaria and the Río Callanga, where Paulino and I were searching for some gigantic terraces that Dr. Neuenschwander had spotted years before from the air, I marveled at how precipitously the territory behind the Yungaria soared upward and away from the river, beyond sight.

 

Then in 1995, from a high perch on the eastern edge of the Andes, as we were ascending from the valley of the headwaters of the Callanga to the highlands to the west, I caught a glimpse of the mighty peaks of this strange massif, which seemed to reach to a height quite uncommon for tropical mountains out beyond the Andes:

while the entire range was enveloped in what appeared to be a thick mantle of green vegetation, the actual peaks were shrouded in what appeared to be perpetual cloud around the summits.

Adjacent areas, as described by long-time Paititi seeker, Padre Juan Carlos Polentini, are said to harbor the extensive ancient stone ruins that could be the legendary Paititi."

NOTE: Some portions of Greg Deyermenjian's writings have not been edited due to space restrictions. Visit complete manuscript here.

Even civilian explorers like California based adventurer and photographer Fernando S. Gallegos have been inspired to explore the area.

His detailed and fascinating account of reaching Pusharo, deep in the Amazonian jungle after surviving tarantula swarms and being stranded in torrential rains, shows exactly how arduous and dangerous the journey is.

I asked Fernando what compelled him to take such dangerous journeys and he explained:

"I want to rekindle that forgotten sense of curiosity that we all seem to lose when we enter adulthood.

 

The thought of discovering some physical link to that part of our imagination we deem as unrealistic or impossible is motivation enough to reassure myself that perhaps some greater beyond all expectation still exists out there waiting to be found."

In my exclusive interview with famed French explorer Thierry Jamin, I was able to get the most updated information as to the next steps in discovering Paititi later this year.

What are your plans for discovering the Lost City of Paititi this summer?

For about twenty years, my team and I dedicated our searches on the tracks of the permanent presence of the Incas in Amazonian forest. We looked for their main center of population: the lost city of Paititi.

Since 1998, we have completed about twenty expeditions in the southeast of Peru.

In 2009, we ventured into a lost valley, North of Cusco:

the valley of Lacco.

In Quechua, the word "lacco" means "labyrinth", or "the place where we get lost". 

Accompanied by archaeologists from the Ministry of Culture, we were surprised to discover numerous unknown archaeological sites of the modern archaeology: fortresses, small centers of agricultural production, several necropolises and complete cities populated with hundreds of buildings.

These were real "Pompeii Amazonians"! From 2009 till 2013, we continued to discover more than forty complete sites.

Situated on original Incan stone paths, these lost cities seem to lead to the north of Cusco, towards the National Sanctuary of Megantoni. This sanctuary shelters one of the most difficult to access forests in South America. It is the cradle of the Matsiguengas Indians, with whom we have a very good relationship.

Since 2010, several Matsiguengas Indians told us about the existence of a strange mountain, at the top of which would hide the ruins of an old stony city: the legendary city of Paititi. During several years, we tried to locate this mysterious mountain.

Then, in June, 2012, the French company Astrium helped us obtain a series of satellite photos of exploration zone. In certain photos, we localized a very strange mountain of square shape, one thousand meters aside.

We would say a cube, in the heart of the forest, encircled by abysms of a several hundred meters deep.

A site apparently very strategic, easy to defend and impossible to invade.

A hundred meters west of this mountain, two twin lakes and a mysterious square lake, seem to confirm the testimonies of the Matsiguengas.

All of the legendary traditions assert that Paititi was built near such extents of water.

We tried to reach this mountain in 2011 in vain and then, in 2012, new discoveries in Machu Picchu took away from our search for Paititi. But in 2013 and 2014, other expeditions allowed us to approach our goal of only a few kilometers.

The jungle of Megantoni is dangerous and very difficult to access, especially for a team moving with important supplies. Our diverse expeditions have not allowed us yet to reach the ruins of the lost city.

Nevertheless, the Matsiguengas Indians are convinced: it is at the top of this "well cut" mountain that hide the vestiges of the queen of the South American lost cities.

Tell me about your expedition to that area this year?

 

We have prepared our next exploration with the objective of reaching the "square mountain" and the lakes by helicopter.

 

After several unfortunate attempts, we arrived at the conclusion that the helicopter is the only way to reach this zone. If we manage to finance this operation, the expedition will take place in July. It should last three weeks.

 

We plan to explore the mountain in great detail, but also the lakes, thanks to the use of a ROV (automatic soumarin robot) and with professional divers. Several professional archaeologists will also participate in the operation.

 

The probability to discover an important archaeological site, of the scale of Machu Picchu, hidden at the top of this mysterious mountain is very big.

 

I am convinced that we shall soon experience the discovery of Paititi.

 

 

 

Critics have commented that further exploration to these remote indigenous communities will bring disease and cause harm. How do you respond to their criticism?

 

Communities of the uncontacted Kuga Pakuris Indians live in the Sanctuary of Megantoni, but not in the area we are exploring, which is very difficult to access.

 

These Indians live in the hunting areas. The area of the "square mountain" is surrounded by vertical walls of nearly a thousand meters high and Kuga Pakuris never go to that area. We are in permanent contact with Matsiguenga of Megantoni tribes, who participate in our expeditions.

 

This area is part of their territory, rather than the "uncontacted" tribes.

 

All of our search campaigns are carried out within a legal framework, with the permission and participation of Peruvian authorities (Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Environment - SERNANP)

 

 

The French explorer Thierry Jamin,

near a chullpa, or funeral tower, in the Inca necropolis of Puccro,

valley of Lacco.

© Photo Thierry JAMIN, 2009.

 

 

 

Can't you just fly over the area and use modern radar LIDAR technology rather than disturbing the environment? 

 

It would be quite possible to use the radar technology, such as LIDAR.

 

But they are still very expensive for us. And nothing beats field research. The radars cannot perform the exploration in underwater lakes. This is the essence of archaeological research.

 

On the ground, we use modern technology: GPS, drones, ROV, endoscopic cameras, scanners, etc. And this we can only do on the ground.

 

The purpose of the operation "Paititi 2016" is to reach the famous "square mountain" by air, with the use of a helicopter. We have never tried that approach before. We want to spread the legend of Paititi through science.

 

We need science and professional archaeologists to reach the lost city BEFORE the huaqueros or treasure hunters arrive.

 

 

In the North of the National Sanctuary of Megantoni,

the satellite Pleiades located a strange quadrangular formation

of one thousand meters near a mysterious square lake

and near twin lakes. The Natives of the region

assure that Paititi hides at the top of this mountain.

(Photo by Astrium – CNES)

 

 

This is the challenge of our research.

 

We know, for example, that a Spanish team visited last September, near the Sanctuary of Megantoni without any permit, in search of Paititi. They are unfortunately not the only ones.

 

Our satellite images of the "square mountain" were widely disseminated. Other adventurers, unscrupulous, may try to reach the area clandestinely in search of the legendary gold.

 

Science must discover the site of Paititi first and return this great historical and archaeological treasure to the hands of the World Heritage Site.

 

This is the challenge of our 2016 exploration."

THE HISTORY OF PAITITI EXPLORATIONS

1600:     Missionary Andres Lopez discovers Paititi and writes to the Vatican about his findings.

 

1925:     Percy Harrison Fawcett, the inspiration for "Indiana Jones" attempts first exploration to the area. The archaeologist and South American explorer, along with his eldest son disappeared under unknown circumstances during an expedition to find "Z" – his name for the ancient lost city. Brad Pitt is currently shooting the film "The Lost City of Z" about Fawcett's adventure and life.

 

1954:     Hitler's photographer Hans Ertl discovered many Pre-Columbian sites and claimed to have discovered Plato's Atlantis in the Bolivian Altiplano. The Nazi propaganda cinematographer exiled to Bolivia where he went on to shoot the expedition documentary "Paititi".

 

1958: Peruvian explorer Carlos Neuenschwander Landa led multiple expeditions in search of Paititi. He discovered the Inca stone path, located in the mountains of Paucartambo, and was the first person to describe, document and disseminate Hualla fortress located in the rural area of Calca. In his expeditions he has concentrated on the plateau where he sought the city of Paititi. He eventually wrote the book "Paititi in the mists of History."

 

1970-2002: Carlos Neuenschwander Landa organizes several expeditions in the national park of Manú in search of the lost city. They land by helicopter at the petroglyphs of Pusharo.

 

1971: A French-American expedition led by Bob Nichols, Serge Debru and Georges Puel travelled up the Rio Pantiacolla from Shintuya in search of Paititi. The party's guides left after a 30 day agreement expired, and though the three continued on, they never returned. In 1972 Japanese explorer Yoshiharu Sekino contacted Machiguenga Indians in the area and confirmed that the expedition members had been killed by Indians.

 

1979: French-Peruvian couple Nicole and Herbert Cartagena discover the ruins of Mameria. For the first time, researchers discover inca ruins in Amazonia. This discovery constitutes the first scientific proof of the presence of Paititi.

 

1984-2011: Various expeditions led by Gregory Deyermenjian. These included the documentation of Incan remains in Mameria, the exploration and documentation of the petroglyphs at Pusharo, exploration and documentation of Manu's Pyramids of Paratoari, and others.

 

1997: Norwegian biologist Lars Hafskjold set out to discover the ancient tribe of Toromona, the origins of the Paititi legend. He disappeared somewhere in the unexplored parts of Bolivia and has never been found.

 

2001: The Kota Mama II expedition led by John Blashford-Snell located some significant ancient ruins in the jungle east of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia which are believed to be identical to those discovered earlier by Hans Ertl.

 

2001: French explorer Thierry Jamin investigated the site of Pantiacolla. The pyramids are in fact natural formations but Jamin discovered several Inca artefacts in the same area.

 

2002: Polish explorer Jacek Pałkiewicz undertook an expedition under the patronage of the government of Peru upstream on the Madre de Dios River in search of Paititi. He eventually became famous for locating the source of the Amazon River. He subsequently wrote several novels on his explorations including El Dorado, Hunting the Legend.

 

2004: "Quest for Paititi" exploration team of Gregory Deyermenjian and Ignacio Mamani discovered several important Inca ruins along branches of the Inca Road of Stone at the peak known as Último Punto in the northern part of the Pantiacolla region of Peru.

 

2005: Thierry Jamin and French-Peruvian Herbert Cartagena studied Pusharo petroglyphs and discovered large geoglyphs in a valley nearby. They reportedly found a "map" showing where Paititi might be located. Further expeditions were set up in the following years.

 

2009-2011: Various expeditions by Italian researcher Yuri Leveratto who reached one of the Pyramids of Pantiacolla.

 

2009-2013: Thierry Jamin and his group explores the valleys of Lacco, Chunchusmayo and Cusirini, in the North of the department of Cusco, on the tracks of Paititi. Accompanied by the Peruvian Ministry of Culture, they bring to light forty archeological sites, including Hualla Mocco, Torre Mocco, Lucma Cancha, Llactapata, Apucatina, Pantipallana and Chaupichullo.

 

2011: British expedition to investigate the Pyramids of Paratoari with Kenneth Gawne, Lewis Knight, Ken Halfpenny, I. Gardiner and Darwin Moscoso as part of the documentary "The Secret of the Incas."

 

2014: TV host Josh Gates and Gregory Deyermenjian searched for Paititi while filming "Expedition Unknown" for the Travel Channel. They were forced to return after running out of supplies.

 

2015: Paititi documentary directed by Michel Gomez, for the Peruvian national channel Latina based on Thierry Jamin's book "The Adventurer of the Lost City"

 

2016: Thierry Jamin will fly with helicopter research teams to further explore the newly discovered possible location of Paititi.

Ancient "Lost City" Discovered in Peru

-   Official Claims   -
by Kelly Hearn
January 16, 2008
from NationalGeographic Website

Cut stones (top) and masonry walls (bottom)

recently discovered in southern Peru

could be the ruins of the legendary "lost city" of Paititi,

according to the mayor of the town where the site were found.

Archaeologists are being sent to the site

to investigate the claim.

Source

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.

A commonly cited legend claims that Paititi was built by the Inca hero Inkarri, who founded the city of Cusco before retreating into the jungle after Spanish conquerors arrived.

On January 10 Peru's state news agency reported that "an archaeological fortress" had been discovered in the district of Kimbiri and that the district's mayor suggested it was the lost city.

Mayor Guillermo Torres described the ruins as a 430,000-square-foot (40,000-square-meter) fortification near an area known as Lobo Tahuantinsuyo.

Few other details about the site were offered, but initial reports described elaborately carved stone structures forming the base of a set of walls.

The state media report quotes Torres as saying the area will be "immediately declared" a cultural tourism site.

Officials from the Peruvian government's Cusco-based National Institute of Culture (INC) met with Torres on Tuesday, according to Francisco Solís, an INC official.

"It is far too early to make any definitive judgments," Solís told National Geographic News. "We are going to dispatch a team to investigate."

Officials expect more details to emerge in the coming days, he said.
 

Legend of Paititi

Paititi is believed to have been located somewhere east of the Andes Mountains in the rain forest of southeastern Peru, southwestern Brazil, or northern Bolivia.

In 1600 a missionary reported seeing a large "city of gold" in the region where Paititi is believed to have been built, according to archival records discovered by an Italian archaeologist in 2001.

However, the location of the newfound site falls counter to where historical records indicate Paititi should be, Solís said.

Officials were nonetheless intrigued by the possibilities, he added.

The first task will be to determine if the newfound ruins are the work of the Inca or pre-Inca ethnic groups, Solís said.

Gregory Deyermenjian, a U.S.-based psychologist and explorer who has led many expeditions to investigate the Paititi legend, said many people in the tourism-rich region of Cusco have embraced the legend as a business promotion.

But he said the claims could have merit, as there are still many important sites to be found.

"It is a bit off the beaten path but still within the Inca's reach," Deyermenjian said. "I'm very interested to know more."

Daniel Gade, professor emeritus in geography at the University of Vermont, cautioned about jumping to conclusions.

"Paititi is frequently the first thing people mention when something like this is found," Gade said, adding that there are many ruins in the jungle regions of the area.