Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Rotarians hear of Peruvian dig

Gurdon's Rotary Club met on Thursday, October 16, at its usual meeting time of noon at the Gurdon Senior Adult Center.

Lunch, as always, was prepared by the center's kitchen staff and enjoyed by all.

Club President, Allen Wimberly, passed around a sign-up sheet for all Rotary members to select a job duty for the upcoming pancake breakfast. Each year the Rotary Club hosts a pancake breakfast at the Gurdon Senior Adult Center on the morning of the Forest Festival. The breakfast consists of bacon, pancakes, coffee, juice and other breakfast items.

Tickets for the breakfast $4 each. Breakfast will begin at 7 a.m. and last until 9:30 a.m.

Al Brown was in charge of the program. He introduced Archeologist Don Ross from Arkadelphia.

Ross had recently been a part of an archeological dig in Peru.

Ross explained how a new pipeline was being dug and buried in Peru. "In the process of digging, the workers found grave sites. The Peruvian government didn't want the artifacts destroyed so they brought in a team to dig and preserve them. What we found was excellent pieces of history and we sent them all to a museum," said Ross.

In the area where Ross and the others were, it had gone on record as never raining its in history. Yes, it is a dessert, but does have a river running through it with some trees present from early Spanish explorers.

Ross said the graves found were some of the most beautifully decorated graves he had ever seen.

Ross said in the beginning of the dig, it was believed that due to dry conditions, germs may still have been alive on the remains.

"We had to wear suits and masks for the first few days, but after a while they came off and we didn't bother with them anymore," said Ross.

In 99 percent of all digs, most wood, body parts and other items will disappear. However, with the dry conditions in the area Ross was in, many of the items were just as they had been buried. Baskets with corn and other food items were still in tact, including the corn.

Food, logs, tools and other items were buried with the dead with a belief that this would give them a happy life in their next life.

All of the items and human remains found all dated back to around 1700-1780.

Ross said no one was allowed into the area during the dig.

"It is too tempting for an outsider to realize the historical value and the need to have these items in a museum," said Ross.

When asked if he had ever kept any souvenirs. Ross replied, "No, sometimes it would be neat, but I know how important they are and as archeologist we all have professional attitudes about it."

Ross said in all the artifacts found in one grave during the dig was appraised at around $250,000 worth. That was not a total of all artifacts found.

Ross said it was worth the trip although he had to pay his own way down there, they paid for his food and shelter.

"It is worth paying for to have the hands on experience of such a special dig," said Ross.