Lords of Sipan: A True Story of Pre-Inca Tombs, Archaeology, and Crime

The desire to obtain beautiful art objects especially those surrounded by the mystery of antiquity combined with the crime of modern day art traffickers and the fight by scientists, law enforcement officials and historians to retain or restore ancient art to its rightful owners makes the Lords of Sipan a great read. It raises many ethical issues the art world has chosen to ignore except on rare exception. Who does great art belong to? Those who created it are long dead but then who gives anyone the right to rob graves and impoverish the cultural heritage of the countries those objects were taken from. All heavy ethical questions raised by this archeological crime thriller.

Sidney Kirkpatrick is a superb, eclectic writer. The author of A Cast of Killers, an excellent attempt to solve the William Desmond Taylor murder case (following King Vidor’s investigation of the case), he has also written biographies of the spiritualist Edgar Cayce, the American portraitist Thomas Eakins, a study (Turning the Tide) of a single individual’s resistance to the Medellin drug cartel and a masterful account (Hitler's Holy Relics) of the Nazis' theft of the crown jewels of the Holy Roman Empire. Lords of Sipan is another ‘true crime’ book (in the broad sense of the term).It concerns a burial site for the Moche people (flourished ca. 300 A.D.) in the coastal valleys of Peru. This area is filled with looters, with collectors and exporters. The archaeologists who would preserve Peruvian antiquities must guard their sites and be armed during their excavations. The central figure in this particular story is Dr. Walter Alva, who, with Professor Christopher Donnan of UCLA, struggled to preserve Peruvian history as well as to understand and explicate the culture of the Moche.Kirkpatrick’s canvas is both broad and deep. He explores at length the attempts of greedy traders in pre-Columbian antiquities to secure those antiquities and then develop smuggling lanes from Peru (eventually via London) to collectors in the U.S. Those collectors include such noteworthy individuals as the physicist Murray Gell-Mann (who surrenders his personal collection when he realizes the manner in which it was secured and sold). There is a Hollywood dimension to the story, as one of the pivotal conspirators (David Swetnam) was illegally utilizing Irving Azoff’s house in Montecito as an operational base, Azoff being the manager of The Eagles, Steely Dan, Christina Aguilera, Journey, Van Halen, et al. In addition to the broad narrative, Kirkpatrick takes us on Walter Alva’s journey into the heart of Huaca Rajada (the site of the three pyramids used for burials) and takes us step by step, rock by rock, artifact by artifact and corpse by corpse to observe both the archaeologist’s task and the archaeologist’s ultimate reward.Bottom line: Sidney Kirkpatrick has an uncanny ability to find a memorable story and then tell that story with elegance and skill. He is an exceptional example of the non-fiction writer’s ability to command the devices of the writer of fiction.Because of the technical details this may, at points, be a bit obscure for the general reader. At the same time, for the archaeological enthusiast this will be a feast. I can recommend it to all, but more general readers might want to start with SK’s A Cast of Killers, Hitler's Holy Relics or Turning the Tide. Wherever you start, however, be prepared to be both informed and thoroughly entertained.

Archaeological thrillers are not exactly a dime a dozen, especially if they happen to be true. Tomb robbers, museum directors, scholars, agents, dealers, gallery owners and collectors all interact here in an exciting tale relating how various people vied to dig up, sell or buy ancient Peruvian artifacts. A few wanted to preserve the items for the nation (Peru), some wanted to obtain knowledge of the Moche culture which existed in northern Peru for many centuries up to 700 A.D, but many wanted to make a tidy profit. Somebody got shot, a few wound up in jail, there was a stand-off with angry villagers, the US government and the Customs Service became involved, there was a series of raids in California, and some fabulous treasures were found at several locations on the dry coastal plain of northern Peru. Written in an exciting style, fluctuating between the excavation process and the dubious practices of the dealers in looted objects, gallery owners, and collectors, Fitzpatrick tells the story of Huaca Rajada, a site occupied by three huge pyramids containing millions of bricks, and---as it turned out---immensely rich burials of Moche lords. Though the story of the excavation dominates, you can't fail to learn quite a lot about the Moche and their art during your reading, which, given the tense style, will be quick. I'm sure that archaeologists working on Peru may feel this book neglects their scientific findings to some extent. It's not meant to be an academic study. However, your interest in the subject cannot help but be stimulated by the fascinating tale and you will come away with a better appreciation of the struggles of nations around the world to control their own national heritages.

I really enjoyed this story of wonderful discoveries of ancient burials in Peru. And it's not ancient history; these discoveries were made in the 1980's. The descriptions of some of the artifacts buried with the "Lords of Sipan" were breathtaking. The detailed workmanship on tiny, tiny figures as described makes the reader gasp with the intricacy of work done a thousand years ago. Sometimes we think that only modern methods and workmanship is capable of such beauty as described here, so we are brought to admire a people who lived so long ago, whom we may never have heard of. The biggest disappointment for me was the descriptions of locations with no accompanying map or diagram. I was not able to picture the situations of the different tombs and discoveries in relation to each other without diagrams. Also, I wanted to see pictures of the finds. I guess that's one real drawback of e-books, the fact that they so often do not contain pictures when needed, and the way it's almost impossible to easily refer back to any diagrams that have appeared in the text previously to the location that you're reading. It did, however, make me order another book that is described as containing pictures and foldouts pertaining to these discoveries, and by the same archeologist who made these discoveries.I highly recommend this book to anyone who has studied the natives of S. America, the Spanish Language, who has an interest in the ancients, or who may have traveled the area. In fact, I believe anyone who likes to read about real occurances would enjoy this book.

a really interesting book on the subject !

Good inter4esting read

I am interested in Moche civilisation and read this book for some general background on how Moche artefacts are recovered and traded; how local people view archaeologists and vice versa; how archaeologists view art traders and vice versa; how different nationalities operate with respect to Peruvian archaeological heritage; how these issues are presented to the general public. I found the book useful for my purposes, especially with respect to the last item on that list. This is a mildly 'sensationalist' piece of journalism which offers to let you, so to speak, 'read all about the real Indiana Joneses of the archaeology world!' It is tabloid journalism but not offensively so. If you have ever watched the free documentaries on the National Geographic website then you will know how those are pitched, as if talking to a moderately intelligent 12-year old. The authorial 'voice' in this book reminds me of the narration on those documentaries. That is the level it is pitched at. The tone is of a sort of faux outrage you find in consumer programmes which delight in reporting how grannies are being ripped off by unscrupulous tradesmen and isn't it shocking etc but they can't keep the glee out of their voices. The fact it is titled a 'true story' tells you all you need to know. So, if you buy this then you can expect something mildly entertaining but not high brow. Written as amusement for coffee breaks or travelling or sitting on the beach. Given that it does not aspire to be anything more then it does a good enough job.