The Forgotten Amazon

An Archaeological Research Project

“The Forgotten Amazon” is a Danish-Peruvian pioneer archaeological project that focusses on the pre-Columbian cultures in the Amazon region to uncover the origin of the Amazon-peoples. One of the cultures that the project has its main focus on, is the Chachapoyas Culture.

The first two field seasons took place at the prehistoric city of Posic situated in the Amazonas of Peru. The site contains well preserved ruins from the Inca culture and from the less famous pre-inca culture, the Chachapoya culture. The site furthermore has a concentration of large stellas and megaliths placed in circles and often containing rock carvings, possibly symbolising astronomical constellations.

The ancient city of Posic was discovered in 2008 by one of the main reasearchers of the Chachapoya culture, Dr. Inge Schjellerup, senior researcher at the National Museum of Denmark. Schjellerup has directed expeditions to the site a couple of times since then. Since 2018 Cand.mag. Andreas Valentin Wadskjær Petersen has Co-directed the project working as the archaeological director on the project. The expeditions lead by Schjellerup focussed on the Inca and Chachapoyas structures in Posic A and Posic B, while the two seasons lead by Wadskjær examined the complex Posic C, with Chachapoyas settlement and the ceremonial centres consisting of the mysterious megaliths. The examinations consisted of archaeological excavations and analyses of macro and micro fossils with the aim of uncovering the origin of the Amazonas people.

Main Sponsors of The Forgotten Amazon

“The Forgotten Amazon is cooperating with the National Museum of Denmark and it is funded by various foundations and grants. the main sponsors of the project are:

– Dronning Margrethe II’s Arkæologiske Fond: has for two consecutive years supported the project financially with large amounts.
– Louis-Hansen Fonden: has for two consecutive years supported the project financially with large amounts.
– Elisabeth Munksgaard Fonden: has supported the latest field season with a large amount.

– The Vellux Foundations: has supported Dr. Inge Schjellerup during the preexaminations of Posic and with a very large one-time amount for spending on C-14 datings and more.
– Archaeologist Lene Blindbæk: has supported the latest field season with a relatively large amount.
– Bonanza Tours Peru: has supported the latest field season with a relatively large amount.

– Geoteam A/S: has helped financing the project’s Total Station and accessories for this.
– Brorsons Rejselegat: has supported the latest field season with a relatively large amount.
– Fiedlers Legat: has supported almost all the project’s participants with covering some of their expenses.

– Merkur Fonden: Has covered the expenses for the analysis of the archaeobotanical material.

The directors and the project are truly grateful for all of this and are of course hoping for a collaboration in the future.

Sponsors of the Participants

Besides the suport from Fiedler’s Legat, some participants also received individual funding from the following:

– Torben og Alice Frimodts Fond: has funded 5 participants with relatively large amounts.

– Jørgen Esmers Mindelegat: has funded 5 participants with relatively large amounts.

– Oticon Fonden: has funded 4 participants with medium sized amounts.

– Augustinus Fonden: has funded 1 particpant with a relatively large amount.

– Nykøbing Falster Katedral Skole: has funded 1 particpant with a medium sized amount.

– Dansk Hortonomforenings Studiefond: has funded 3 participants with relatively small amounts.

– Gisselfeld Kloster: has funded 1 participant with a relatively small amount.

– Apoteker P.C.N. Friedrichsens legat: has funded 1 participant with a relatively small amount.

The directors and the project are very grateful for the support given to the participants. Any amount that can help them is appreciated.

Supply Sponsors

The project did also receive a lot of help from other parties:

– Hotel Villa Jazmin: sponsored free nights for the entire team in Ica for one of our cultural excursions to the Nazca-lines.

– Millhouse Cusco: sponsored free nights for the entire team in Cusco for one of our cultural excursions to amongst others Machu Picchu and Reserva de Manu.

– Casa de Mama Nichi: sponsored free nights for 4 team members in Chachapoyas.

– Spreadshirt: sponsored 25 team T-shirts.

– Epic Water Filters: sponsored 15 water filtration bottles.

– Merrild/Lavazza: sponsored 4.8 kg of organic instant coffee.

– Slikposen.dk: sponsored 32 kg of candy.

– Fucapo: sponsored 3 kg of superfoods.

– RigtigHundemad Egedal: sponsored chlorine pills for clean water.

– ElevenWorks: sponsored the illustration app, Touchdraw, that we used for documentation, for the entire team.

The directors and the project are very grateful for all of the support. The project is always looking for sponsors and if you are interested in donating equipment or funds feel free to contact the project by email: peruproject.dk@gmail.com. Should you have any other requests, then those can also be directed to the mentioned email adress.

The Team of The Forgotten Amazon

The team of the field season 2019 and following analyses:
Directors: Cand.Mag. Andreas Valentin Wadskjær Petersen & Dr. Inge Schjellerup
Co-director: Dr. Kristoffer Damgaard
Administrators: Stud.Merc. Maria Vento & Prof. Romulo Ocampo
GIS supervisor: Cand.Mag. Gitte Lambersten Hjortlund
Natural sciences & Fields supervisor: Cand.Mag. Anders Hagensen
Field supervisors: Dr. Sabrina Autenrieth, Stud.Mag. Stefanie Langaa, Stud.Mag. Julie Guldbøg Hulten.
Natural sciences archaeologist: Cand.Mag. Josephine Forsberg
Natural sciences & field assistants: Stud.Mag. Jens Høgsbro Nederby, Lasse Rievers Olesen, Søren Rexbye, Ida Ørnebjerg Mikkelsen, Amanda Blankensteiner, Diana Windfeldt-Schmidt, Jakob Fink, Karoline Jørgensen, Emma Martens & Estrella Pereyra.

The team of the field season 2018 and following analyses:
Directors: Cand.Mag. Andreas Valentin Wadskjær Petersen & Dr. Inge Schjellerup
Co-director: Dr. Kristoffer Damgaard
Administrator: Stud.Merc. Maria Vento & Prof. Romulo Ocampo
Natural sciences & Fields supervisor: Stud.Mag. Adam Cordes
GIS supervisor: Cand.Mag. Gitte Lambersten Hjortlund
Natural sciences archaeologist: Stud.Mag. Anders Hagensen
Field archaeologist: Stud.Mag. Mads Egeberg
Natural sciences & field assistants: Bachiller Emilio Gamboa Castillo, Stud.Mag. Emma Dyrby Forster, Stud.Mag. Pauline Nystad & Bachiller José Carrión.

Interested in joining the project?
If you are interested in joining the project in the future requests can be directed to peruproject.dk@gmail.com.

Publications

Hjortlund, GL. & AV. Wadskjær 2019: Trimble Totalstation viser sit værd I den peruvianske jungle på jagten efter Amazonasfolkets oprindelse.

Schjellerup, I. (1997). Incas and Spaniards in the Conquest of the Chachapoyas: Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Research in the North-eastern Andes of Peru. Göteborg, Sweden: Göteborg University.

Schjellerup, I. (2016). Inkaernes erobring af Chachapoyasprovinsen – vejsystemet, forhistoriske bopladser og helleristninger. Nationalmuseets Arbejdsmark , pp. 66-79.

Schjellerup, I., Espinoza, C., Rollefson, J., Quipuscoa, V., Sørensen, M. K., & Peña, V. (2009). La Ceja de Montaña – a Disappearing Landscape: Interdisciplinary Studies from North-eastern Peru (Vol. 3). Copenhagen, Denmark: The National Museum of Denmark.

Schjellerup, I., Quipuscoa, V., Espinoza, C., Peña, V., & Sørensen, M. K. (2005). The Chilchos Valley Revisited: Life Conditions in the Ceja de Selva, Peru (Vol. 2). Copenhagen, Denmark: The National Museum of Denmark.

Schjellerup, I., Sørensen, M. K., Espinoza, C., Quipuscoa, V., & Peña, V. (2003). The Forgotten Valleys: Past and Present in the Utilization of Resources in the Ceja de Selva, Peru (Vol. 1). Copenhagen, Denmark: The National Museum of Denmark.

Wadskjær, A.V. (2019). Danske arkæologer i inkaernes land. Fund og Fortid nr. 2, 2019. SDA.

Wadskjær, A.V. (2020). Danske arkæologer i Amazonas junglen. https://voresegedal.dk/danske-arkaeologer-i-amazonas-junglen/

Wadskjær, A.V. (2020). The Forgotten Amazon 2018-2019. Wadskjær Forlag.

Wadskjær, A.V., G.L. Hjortlund, E.D. Forster & P. Nystad (2019): Jungle-arkæologi – Udfordringer ved digital udgravning i Amazonas, Peru. Arkæologisk Forum nr. 40.

Wadskjær, A.V. & G.L. Hjortlund (2020). Megalithic structures in the Valley of Posic, Amazonas, northern Peru. I: Gebauer, A. B., L. Sørensen, A. Teather & A. de Valera (eds.) 2020: Monumentalizing life in the Neolithic: Narratives of continuity and change. Oxbow Books. 151-160.

In prep:

Wadskjær, A.V. & I. Schjellerup 2021: Posic C – a sacred complex of the ancient city of Posic in Northern Peru. Lund Archaeological Review.