PAITITI
The Lost City Of Gold
Overview
Incan legends tell of a lost city hidden in the remote rainforests of southeast Peru, northern Bolivia, or northwest Brazil where the hero Inkarri, after founding Q,ero and Cusco lived out the rest of his days in refuge.
For the invading Spanish it was a lost city of unimaginable wealth and riches which the spent years searching for, but has it ever been found?
Paititi as depicted in the video game Shadow of the Tomb Raider, 2018.
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The Legend
Atahuallpa, Inca XIIII From Berlin Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany.
One of the most famous legends of the Inca is that of the Inkarri myth, who upon the death of the last Inca ruler, Atahualpa, he vowed to return one day and avenge the Inca ruler’s death. As the Inkarri legend has been passed on orally for many generations there are many versions of the legend that exist.
Some say that Inkarri was killed by the Spaniards, his body parts buried in several places around the Inca kingdom: His head in the Presidential Palace in Lima, his arms under the Waqaypata (Square of Tears) in Cuzco, and his legs in Ayacucho.
A more popular version of the myth tells of Inkarri’s retreat to Paititi where he sought refuge to live out the rest of his days.
When the invading Spanish conquistadors heard of this secret refuge they believed it to be full of gold, jewels, and other riches in unimaginable quantities, placing the legend of Paititi alongside other cities of gold such as the well-known city of El Dorado.
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The Clues
A missionary in the 1600’s named Andres Lopez presented a report to the Pope in Rome recounting the tales from the natives who had described a large city rich in gold, silver, and jewels located in the middle of the tropical jungle called Paititi and how a miracle had been performed by a group of baptized Indians with a crucifix at the court of the king of this great city.
Though Lopez’s account was largely third-hand information it was widely publicized inspiring many to go in search of this lost city of gold and riches.
Various other documents began appearing after this between the 16th and 18th centuries which would refer to Paititi and it’s possible locations. Often these documents were regarding expeditions taken in search of the lost city.
Perhaps the most informative of these reports were those of Juan Álvarez Maldonado in 1570, Gregorio Bolivar in 1676, Juan Recio de León between 1623 – 1627, Juan de Ojeda in 1676, and Diego de Eguiluz in 1696.
Portrait of the explorer, Juan Álvarez Maldonado.
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Previous Expeditions
Picture of the explorer Colonel John Nicholas Blashford-Snell.
Over the last 100 years alone there have been many expeditions attempted to located the lost city of Paititi.
1. Percy Harrison Fawcett searched in the area of Mato Grosso, Brasil
2. Hans Ertl searched in Bolivia
3. Carlos Neuenschwander Landa who searched in the Madre de Dios region of Cusco.
4. Bob Nichols, Serge Debru, and Georges Puel who searched the Rio Pantiacolla from Shintuya and never returned (confirmed dead)
5. Gregory Deyemenjian of The Explorers Club searched Mameria, Pusharo, Paratoari and others
6. Lars Hafskjold left from Puerto Maldonado, Madre de Dios, Peru into unexplored parts of Bolivia and never returned.
7. John Blashford-Snell discovered ruins in the jungle east of Lake Titicaca, Bolivia believed to be the same that Hans Ertl had discovered in 1955
8. Thierry Jamin investigated the site of Pantiacolla discovering Incan artefacts in the area.
9. Jacek Palkiewicz went in search of El Dorado (which he associated with Paititi) in the Peruvian Andes and Madre de Dios.
10. Gregory Deyemenjian and Mamani? Discovered significant Inca ruins along branches of the Inca Road of Stone at a peak known as Ultimo Punto in the northern part of Pantiacolla, Peru.
Picture of the French explorer, Thierry Jamin.
Picture of Josh Gates from Expedition Unknown in search of Paititi.
11. Thierry Jamin and Herbert Cartagena discovered and found and studied large geoglyphs in a valley nearby to the Pusharo petroglyphs in Manú, Peru which they claimed to be a map showing the location of Paititi.
12. Olly Steeds when in search of Paititi during the episode “Lost City of Gold” of Solving History with Olly Steeds.
13. Yuri Leveratto reached one of the Pyramids of Pantiacolla/Paratoari during his expeditions.
14. Kenneth Gawne, Lewis Knight, Ken Halfpenny, I. Gardiner, and Darwin Moscoso investigated the Pyramids of Paratoari as part of the documentary The Secret of the Incas.
15. Josh Gates went in search of Paititi in the City of Gold episode of Expedition Unknown.
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Conclusion
A hypothesis was put forward by Dr. Ari Siiriäinen and Dr. Martti Pärssinen, two researchers from the University of Helsinki in 2001 suggesting that Inca expeditions into the Amazonian jungle and Inca military presence in the region of Beni and the Madre de Dios Rivers were related to the Paititi legend. As such an expedition was carried out into the fortified site known as Las Piedras near Riberalta, Bolivia where they found fragments of imperial Inca ceramics.
2003 – 2007 Vera Tyuleneva suggested that “Paititi” was not a name of Peruvian origin and has taken expeditions with detailed written reports of her findings in northern Bolivia.
In 2007 large stone structures were found which resembled high walls covering an areas of 40,000 square meters. This structure is now known as the Manco Pata fortress. This fortress according to the local mayor could be part of the lost city of Paititi, although the Peruvian government’s National Institute of Culture (INC) has disputed this, claiming that the stone structures are formed from naturally occurring sandstone.
After conducting historical research, and comparing sites such as Vilcabamba, Peru and Mameria, an explorer by the name Andrew Nicol concluded that a remote jungle city or outpost such as the one described in the Paititi legends could theoretically exist within the Peruvian Amazon Basin in a region which is referred to as Antisuyu, one of the four regions of the Inca empire.
Picture of the Pusharo petroglyphs by Thierry Jamin.
Vincent Pélissier’s video on YouTube detailing their findings and discovery.
In 2016 Vincent Pélissier claimed to have found the lost city of Paititi in July 2015. Pélissier expands on prior research including that of Thierry Jamin particularly that of the petroglyphs at Pusharo located on the south shore of the Palatoa River which Thierry believed to be a map to Paititi.
Pélissier claims to have been hacked and burgled as a result of his research which he states as proof of having found the lost city of Paititi using Google Earth screenshots and hand-crafted overlays which highlight rivers, mountain ranges, and supposed Inca roads.
What do you believe?
Information for this article has been provided by various sources and are referenced here:
Primary Source: Paititi – Wikipedia
Bibliography:
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- Andrew Nicol (2010). “Legends and New Research about Paititi, Peru’s Lost City of Gold“. Living in Peru.
- Andrew Nicol (2010). “Peru: The Trail to Paititi Archived 2010-10-02 at the Wayback Machine“. South American Explorers Magazine (94)
- Andrew Nicol (2009). “Paititi: The Last Secret Of The Incas?. A Critical Analysis Of The Legends Surrounding The Lost Inca City Of Gold.”. International Journal of South American Archaeology (5)
- Fernando Aparicio Bueno (1998). Paititi: Secret of El Dorado Legend.
- Gregory Deyermenjian (1999). “Glimmers of Paititi”. Mercator’s World. 4 (1). Archived from the original on June 30, 2003.
- Gregory Deyermenjian (2000). “The Petroglyphs of Pusharo: Peru’s Amazonian Riddle”. Athena Review. 2 (3). Archived from the original on 2009-04-27. Retrieved 2009-05-07.
- Gregory Deyermenjian (1999). “On the Trail of Legends: Searching for Ancient Ruins East of the Andes”. GPS World. 10 (6): 20–29.
- Gregory Deyermenjian (1990). “The 1989 Toporake/Paititi Expedition: On the Trail of the Ultimate Refuge of the Incas”. The Explorers Journal. 68 (2): 74–83.
- Gregory Deyermenjian (2006). “In Search of Paititi: Following the Road of Stone into an Unknown Peru”. The Explorers Journal. 84 (1): 28–35.
- John Blashford-Snell and Richard Snailham (2003). East to the Amazon. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-6504-9.
- Jamin, Thierry & Ruquier, Pierre-Albert (2006). L’Eldorado Inca : A la recherche de Païtiti (in French). Paris: Hugo & Compagnie. ISBN 978-2-7556-0098-8.
- Jamin, Thierry (November 2007). Pusharo, la memoria recobrada de los Incas (in Spanish). Lima, Peru: Edisa. ISBN 978-9972-33566-2. OCLC 213862634.
- Tahir Shah (2004). House of the Tiger King: A Jungle Obsession. London: John Murray.
Other sources of information:
Inkarri: Wikipedia
More on Paititi: Forbes
Ancient Origins: Ancient Origins
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ADAM L C
Director of Areas Grey
Adam is an avid treasure hunter, seeker of adventure and the creator of Areas Grey. After travelling for almost half his life and cataloguing over 100 treasure legends along the way. He decided this was simply far too much treasure for one person to chase! As a result he created Areas Grey so he could share his stories, connect with other treasure hunters and put a little more adventure in the lives of the treasure hunting community.
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“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 something greater beyond all expectation still exists out there waiting to be found.”
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