Word: huaqueros
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...frenzy that followed the original looting of the tombs seven years ago seemed like footage from an Indiana Jones movie. International collectors and dealers in antiquities joined huaqueros, the Peruvian term for grave robbers, in a rush for Sipan gold. During raids, police were able to confiscate some stolen material, and one huaquero was killed. Then, with the digging site secured and under guard, Alva and a team of archaeologists and workers located tombs that had been sealed off since their occupants were buried. He began what would stretch into years of patiently peeling away layers of debris and removing...
...unearthing of the "Lord of Sipan," as the warrior-priest was named by Alva's team, was the culmination of a circuitous -- and bloody -- series of events. As is often the case in Peru, energetic and astute huaqueros, or grave robbers, were the first to uncover the riches of the burial ground. Alva was tipped off after Peruvian police raided a huaquero home early last year and confiscated 33 Moche objects, including a gold head with eyes of silver and pupils of lapis lazuli...
...raids followed, including one in which a looter was killed. The trail took police and archaeologists to a huge adobe platform at the base of a weathered Moche pyramid near Sipan. When the authorities arrived, they found men, women and children combing the area for artifacts dropped by the huaqueros, who unload the contraband on the black market for buyers in the U.S., Latin America and Europe. Driven off by police, the villagers viewed the new diggers as little more than government-protected thieves. Threats followed, including oaths of vengeance sworn by the relatives of the slain huaquero. Nightly, intruders...
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