Climbing the Mountains of Peru

Sorry for the absence of e-mails, blog posts, etc.  Our internet was out several times and you really can't complain because we don't have hot water very often so why should we be privileged to have internet all the time. The students got into playing board and card games in the dining area. 

I'm writing today about my mountain climbing experience.  Here is a program transcript from a BBC special you might want to read to become super smart about the Moche.  It touches on why the Moche were in the mountains.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/peru_prog_summary.shtml
You can also Google Youtube The Lost Civilisation of Peru BBC to watch the show.  On the above link you'll see a picture of our field school director, Luis Jaime Castillo. 

Our hotel is in the town of Chepen.  The main archaeological site is in the small town of San Jose de Moro about 10-15 minutes from our hotel.  Between our hotel and San Jose de Moro is a mountain called Cherro Chepen.  On this mountain the Moche developed a defensive site and now it is being studied and excavated.  In these pics if you look carefully you can see the rock terraces and walls that the Moche made.  At the top are the big walls. 

Yes I climbed that - but only halfway to a household site we dug.

The top fortress wall built by the Moche.

The view of Chepen from our worksite.

Stone tools found at our household site.

Katie, our grad student leader, standing on the household site I dug for two days to bedrock.