Los Pinchudos is an elaborate

Chachapoya The Chachapoyas, also called the "Warriors of the Clouds", was a culture of the Andes living in the cloud forests of the southern part of the Department of Amazonas of present-day Peru. The Inca Empire conquered their civilization shortly bef ...

tomb complex, perched in a high rock cleft in one of Peru's northern Andean

cloud forests A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud ...

. Los Pinchudos is located in Río Abiseo National Park, a natural and cultural World Heritage Site, guarded and closed to all except scientific missions. The clay and stone tombs of the complex have wooden roofs and are painted in red, yellow, black, and white colors. Anthropomorphic carvings featuring prominent

phallus A phallus is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history a figure with an erect penis is described as ithyphallic. Any object that symbolically—or, more precisel ...

es are responsible for giving the site its name. Los Pinchudos is located very near the related site of

Gran Pajaten Gran may refer to: People *Grandmother, affectionately known as "gran" * Gran (name) Places * Gran, the historical German name for Esztergom, a city and the primatial metropolitan see of Hungary * Gran, Norway, a municipality in Innlandet coun ...

Preservation

Due to the tombs' deteriorated condition, a result of seismic activity, exposure to the tropical environment, and damage by tourists, Los Pinchudos was listed in the

2000 World Monuments Watch The World Monuments Watch is a flagship advocacy program of the New York-based private non-profit organization World Monuments Fund (WMF) and American Express to call upon every government in the world, preservation organizations, and other groups ...

by the World Monuments Fund. In 2000

American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...

offered $47,000 through the Fund for an emergency conservation and structural stabilization project. While these emergency actions were successful, the site was also listed on the

2002 World Monuments Watch The World Monuments Watch is a flagship advocacy program of the New York-based private non-profit organization, World Monuments Fund (WMF) that is dedicated to preserving and safeguarding the historic, artistic, and architectural heritage of huma ...

in order to raise awareness for additional conservation work required at the site and for the need of a permanent site management plan.World Monuments Fund - Los Pinchudos Archaeological Site
/ref> "Los Pinchudos" are large statues which feature male anatomy. These inspired the name, "Los Pinchudos", which is slang for "the ones with big penises."-Gwin Peter. The researchers believe that these tombs and their surroundings can teach us many things about the vanished culture. The site is located in the Rio Abiseo National Park which is a natural and cultural World Heritage, which has been closed to the public and where tourism is not permitted at all. Government officials are studying to see if they can figure out how this area can be accessed, which has to be done with caution because this is a site where there is always research going on. Not only are tourist not allowed but the scientists have some areas that are restricted to them as well in order to protect the cloud forest, the archaeological sites, and keep the extreme rare yellow-tailed woolly monkey from going extinct. Los Pinchudos is a precious cultural and natural place. It is the ancient burial of ground of the Chachapoyas. The fact that these monuments are exposed to extreme weather due to the tropical environment has brought the structures there to the verge of collapse. Still to this day they wonder how the wooden statues of Los Pinchudos have yet not rotted away.

References

External links

*Gwin, Peter

National Geographic. Jun2004, Vol.205 Issue 6, p. 56-59

{{coord missing, Peru Archaeological sites in Peru Archaeological sites in San Martín Region