Los Pinchudos, Río Abiseo National Park
For more information about Los Pinchudos, visit the UNESCO site, the World Monuments Fund site or the website of Native American Archaeological Sites.
The story: Our Ancestors Watch Us from Above
Funerary Monument
We are located in Los Pinchudos, Peru. It is an inaccessible place, which very few people have been able to reach, an archaeological site of funerary architecture built on the rocky side of a mountain and suspended in a void. Here, the Chachapoya people built a funerary complex which was probably intended to accommodate the most important members of their society. It is an extremely unique place, with a very dry climate that contrasts with the suffocating humidity of the underlying forests, which has allowed the site to remain in good condition over the centuries. The Chachapoyas, when building graves for their loved ones, preferred to give their ancestors a view of the land where they lived (the so-called “cloud woods”) so that they could watch over them.
Heinz Plenge tells how difficult it was to reach this dangerous place
June 6, 2014
Camera Nikon D810
Lens 24 mm
Exposition f/5.6, 1/60 s
ISO-800
Copyright: CC BY-SA 4.0
Image taken by Adine Gavazzi
It took one whole day by plane, two by mule and three on foot just to reach the base of the mountain. Then, Heinz Plenge went up to Los Pinchudos together with a group of scientists and researchers who had to carry out a survey. After fifteen hours of waiting at 3,000 meters above sea level and without water, the photographer finally found the light he needed for his photograph. A recurring feature of his work is the desire to restore life to what, in the eyes of the world, has disappeared. This is to transmit the power of historical memory and of what, at a point in the past, animated the remains of ancient cultures. For this specific shot, Heinz placed a person – as always, from the local community – inside the mausoleum together with a remote-controlled flash, giving life, for a brief moment, to the Chachapoya culture.
The memory of their ancestors emerges from the rock to which the building is clinging, as livid and as purple as death. The mausoleum’s light, red and orange like blood and life, illuminates the mountain and reminds us that our ancestors are watching us from above.
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