Word: vilcabamba
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...PERSONA--THE bandito mustache, the Stetson hat--screamed "bold adventurer dude," and with good reason. Self-taught American explorer Douglas (Gene) Savoy, called "the real Indiana Jones" by PEOPLE magazine, discovered more than 40 lost cities in Peru, including the storied Vilcabamba, thought to have been the last refuge of the Incas as they fled Spanish conquistadors. Archaeologists who said some of his findings had already been established by locals were dismissed by Savoy, who called them "fuddy-duddy academics." Scientists, he said, "tell you what you have found, but you have to find it in the first place...
...years scientists have flocked to the Ecuadorian village of Vilcabamba, deep in the Andes, to study its amazingly vigorous people. Along with two similar mountain regions in the Soviet Caucasus and Pakistani Kashmir, Vilcabamba was believed to be populated by a large number of remarkably old inhabitants. A 1971 census listed 11.4% of the villagers in the over-60 category (compared with 4.5% elsewhere in rural Ecuador) and reported that nine of the 819 residents were 100 or older...
...Alexander Leaf, Harvard professor of clinical medicine, whose 1973 National Geographic article and 1975 book Youth in Old Age did much to advance the legend of Vilcabamba's oldsters, ruefully said that it was apparently all a hoax. Vilcabamba ("Sacred Valley" in the Inca tongue), it now appears, has no more senior citizens per capita than other Andean towns. In fact, the revelations of such gerontological high jinks are remarkably similar to earlier reports from Soviet scientists that some of their old folks may not be as ancient as they claim...
...Tribal legend said that anyone who escorted strangers into the plain would soon die. But after some powerful persuasion, the Indians agreed to join the expedition. They led Savoy and Santander on a three-day march through the jungle to the first moss-covered ruins of what may be Vilcabamba. "We couldn't believe our eyes," says Savoy. "Each day, it became more fantastic...
...Lima, Savoy's find created the greatest stir among archaeologists since the discovery of Machu Picchu. "Although we have yet to explore the ruins carefully," said Dr. Luis E. Valcarcel, director of the National Museum of History, "I am almost certain this is Vilcabamba." Peru's President Fernando Belaunde Terry, himself an ardent amateur archaeologist, chatted with Savoy about possible government help for a full-scale return expedition...