Rewriting Prehistory at Stélida An article from the Winter 2020 Issue of Popular Archaeology reproduced with the permission of the editor. Naxos is the largest island in the Greek Cycladic group, located in the Aegean Sea between the Greek and Turkish mainlands. The islands’ varied landscapes combine to give it a special character. Known for its rich land and bountiful crops as well as for its beautiful white marble and abrasive emery, I could make a journey from a sandy beach to a leafy mountain village in about an hour. Wherever I looked my eye found archaeological treasure and history ..read more

Through the Salkantay Pass Peru has been a country I’ve been interested in visiting for a long time. The images of Inca temples, women dressed in brightly coloured woven textiles, baby llamas and forest covered mountains didn’t prepare me for the diversity of the modern country I arrived in. One goal of the trip was to visit Machu Picchu and reach it by a route that would let me experience Peru away from an urban centre. The variety of landscapes traversed on the Salkantay Trek really appealed to me, but I hadn’t anticipated coming across some heritage gems along the way. The start of th ..read more

Plaza de Armas, Cusco Indigenous belief is that Cusco sits at the navel of the world. It certainly felt like we had traveled into the centre of Peru as we journeyed through the Andes to reach the city. Situated in the Huatanay river valley, Cusco is surrounded on all sides by mountains and many of its districts are accessed by steep steps. As the gateway city to many Andean treks (including Machu Picchu – more on that in a later post) Cusco is an ideal place to acclimatise to the altitude of the mountains. At 3400 m (11 200 ft) above sea level, I could definitely feel the increase in elevat ..read more

The hills surrounding Lima There are some sites that embody the concept of archaeology for me. I’ve been to a few (Acropolis of Athens, Chichen Itza) and still have some on my bucket list (Egyptian Pyramids, Stonehenge). This is the first in a series of four posts about my journey through Peru to one of these iconic sites: Machu Picchu. Cristo del Pacífico looking over Lima’s district of Chorrillos We arrived into Lima at 12:45am local time. It seemed like a long time since leaving the Rockies. The airport and customs were easy enough to navigate and when we stepped out into arrivals ..read more