Peru restores Nazca Lines protection after backlash over mining risk
LIMA (Reuters) -Peru's government has abandoned a plan that reduced the size of a protected area around the country's ancient Nazca Lines, it said on Sunday, after criticism the change made them vulnerable to the impact of informal mining operations.
Peru's Culture Ministry in a statement said it was reinstating with immediate effect the protected area covering 5,600 square kilometers (2162.17 square miles), that in late May had been cut back to 3,200 square kilometers. The government said at the time the decision was based on studies that had more precisely demarcated areas with "real patrimonial value".
The remote Nazca region located roughly 400 km (250 miles) south of Lima contains hundreds of pre-Hispanic artifacts and its plateau is famous for the Nazca Lines, where over 800 giant desert etchings of animals, plants and geometric figures were created more than 1,500 years ago. UNESCO declared them a World Heritage site in 1994.
A technical panel of government representatives, archaeologists, academics and members of international organizations, including UNESCO, will work together to build consensus on a future proposal for zoning and land use in the area, the Culture Ministry's statement said.
According to figures from the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines, 362 small-scale gold miners operate in the Nazca district under a program to regularize their status. Authorities have previously conducted operations against illegal mining in the area.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
Celebrating 60 Years At Detroit's Charles H. Wright Museum Of African American History
Elonte Davis, 'If You can Make it.' Charles H. Wright (1918–2002). M.D. Medical Doctor. No small achievement for a Black man born and raised in Alabama during the darkest depths of Jim Crow segregation. Every instrument of society at that time was used to prevent African American achievement. Still, Wright overcame. He established an OB-GYN practice in Detroit in the mid-1950s, his second stint in the city. From individual excellence, Wright moved on to hero stuff. He worked to integrate Detroit's hospitals and put his life at risk as an emergency physician during Civil Rights Movement marches in Alabama and Louisiana. Throughout, he took numerous trips to Africa. He studied African culture and history, and African American culture and history. He started collecting items related to both. In 1965, he opened a small museum in his home to display the collection–the International Afro-American Museum. The museum quickly outgrew his residence and expanded to a trailer. From those humble beginnings evolved the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. 'He had always been fascinated with the culture and wanted to do something to teach–particularly young people–about their history and about how significant and powerful African nations are and were,' museum president Neil Barclay told "Ensuring that generations, especially young African Americans, are made aware of and take pride in the history of their forebears and their remarkable struggle for freedom," Wright explained. Bear in mind, he was not a trained historian or museum professional. He was a medical doctor. African and African American culture and history were hobbies. No matter. 'It strikes me how important it is for us to determine, or think about, how we as individuals can improve the planet and the communities we live in,' Barclay said. 'Here was an individual, an obstetrician, and he gets this idea of wanting to share the artifacts he has so that kids will understand, appreciate more about their culture, and it ends up being one of the first and largest African American museums in the country. We think that we don't make a difference, that we can't do anything to make a change in the world we live in, and here's an individual who has totally transformed an entire part of the cultural sector.' DETROIT - OCTOBER 31: Dignitaries pay the first respects to the late Rosa Parks at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History on October 31, 2005 in Detroit, Michigan. Parks, the woman who refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama city bus in 1955, is credited for sparking the American civil rights movement. Parks will lie in honor at the museum until 5am November 2, and her funeral will take place at 11am at Greater Grace Temple in Detroit. (Photo by Susan Tusa-Pool/Getty Images) Two memorials symbolize the Wright Museum's significance to Detroit over its 60 years in existence, Detroit's contributions to America, and African Americans' contributions to American history. Rosa Parks lied in state at the museum in 2005. She became an icon protesting segregated buses in Montgomery, but moved to Detroit to live out the remainder of her days following the famous boycott. Aretha Franklin was similarly honored at The Wright following her passing in 2018 and decades defining the Motown sound. Parks and the Queen of Soul are both buried in Detroit's Woodlawn Cemetery. '(The Wright has) been significant as a gathering place, as a point of pride, as a place where our community has gathered and has really taught the rest of our friends, our colleagues, our allies, the significance of the African American journey in American history,' Barclay explained. 'We always talk about how African American history is American history. It's a slice of it. It's intrinsic to an understanding of American history, and indeed, we get people, literally all races and ages from around the world, coming to try to understand what it was about African Americans that so influence what America became, and what we now consider to be a democratic ideal.' What America became and the democratic ideal are under attack today. Much as The Wright focuses on the nation's past, its most important work lives in the now. In the wake of the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle crucial Civil Rights protections and federal diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, the instruments of society are again being used to derail African American achievement. Black history, voting rights, policing reform, and environmental protections attempting to bring equality to African Americans have all been under daily assault by the administration. Tragically, as America lurches backwards from enlightenment, uplifting the narratives of Black culture and history have never been more urgent. 'We just continue to tell the truth about the stories that we know particularly from a lived experience that African Americans have had,' Barclay said. 'I don't think that that will go away. Our history is one of resilience, of having to stand up for the truth that we understand and know, and that's what we're called to do in this moment.' As Wright was called to do in the 1950s and 1960s. 'Whether folks want to call it DEI or not, these are values that we have had for centuries. It has nothing to do with the current rhetoric,' Barclay continues. 'We continue to espouse those values. We continue to put forward that we believe in diverse cultures. We believe in including as many people as possible in the work that we do, and we believe that all people should be treated fairly and equitably. We've believed that for 400 years, that's a story of the fight of African Americans in this country.' Hard to imagine those ideals are controversial, but here we are. Welcome to America in 2025. Dominick Lemonious, 'Pray for my City.' The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History celebrates its 60th anniversary this summer with a special exhibition, 'Luminosity: A Detroit Arts Gathering,' presenting the work of more than 60 present-day Detroit artists, long-departed masters, and selections from the museum's archives all celebrating the rich landscape of the city's Black arts scene. For these artists, creativity isn't just a practice, it's a legacy passed down through generations of Detroiters. Nearly 100 artworks–paintings, sculptures, photography, woodcuts, prints–honor The Wright's six-decade presence and impact on Black artistry in the city. 'Arcing across six decades, the artworks are shared in a collective light that reveals (Detroit's) extraordinary urban experiences and distinctive sorrows,' Ann Arbor, MI based exhibition guest curator, Vera Ingrid Grant, founding director of Harvard University's Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African and African American Art, told 'Shown in abundance, together, they offer shared histories, personal memories, and intense dreams and anxieties of our past, present, and future. This congregation of artworks presents an astonishing vista of storytelling marked by startling tensions and at times a powerful stillness. It's a paradoxical story of vulnerability and resilience that still continues.' Grant has split the presentation into halves: 'DayLight' and 'NightLight.' 'Some of the arrays depicted scenes from an ordinary day, social life, kinship and home—or moving about and working in the metropolis of Detroit. These tableaus seemed to belong in 'DayLight'–a gallery that resounds with a boisterous and eclectic energy,' she explained. 'Alternately, some scenes felt imbued with features of stark and alternate visions–sober histories, strategies of healing, and validations of faith. They called for a more solemn setting and a more austere and traditional installation we managed in 'NightLight.' Artworks engage in universal themes of love, social critique, stories of families, and neighborhoods, but also subjects specific to Detroit. 'For these 60 and more artists of Detroit, you see in their vision the impact of migrations, the endurance of the city's imposing industrial structures–in various states of resilience, decay, and a promise of a beckoning renaissance–but you also feel the differing personal and community mappings and movements in the city of who goes where and when, and where in the city there may be infrastructure and where there may be none,' Grant explained. Throughout the exhibition and the museum, Detroit's position at the forefront of a national and international dialogue regarding the profound influence of African American history and culture are revealed. 'Luminosity' will remain on view through March 31, 2026. Mario Moore, 'These Are Not Yams But They Are Damn Good,' 2025. Oil on Linen 51 1/2 x 42 in 130.8 x 106.7 cm (MM018) The exodus of manufacturing jobs from America left Detroit on the mat for decades. Those who stuck out the hard times have finally gotten the city back on its feet. More than that, Detroit today belongs in the conversation for most exciting city in America. Black artists and the city's cultural institutions have been at the forefront of that transformation and continue leading it. Through August 10, 2025, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit presents 'Code Switch: Distributing Blackness, Reprogramming Internet Art.' Spanning multiple galleries, this interdisciplinary presentation highlights Black contemporary artists' impact on new media and cultivation of technology in arts and culture. 'Code Switch' brings together artists from across the globe to showcase the varying expressions of technology and the internet's impact on contemporary art, honoring Black cultural legacies in the field of new media and time-based practices. The presentation expands as a contemporary group exhibition celebrating Detroit as an integral meeting place where Black people have always been, and continue to be, pioneers in new media art and technologies. The city's deep history with sound—where techno was popularized in America—offers a framework for exploring the interconnectedness of Black people, bodies, and machines. Through July 30, 2025, Library Street Collective brings LaKela Brown and Mario Moore together in a joint exhibition exploring economic and community power through the lens of their shared Detroit heritage. Their work reflects a deep appreciation for the city's transformation while raising questions about who benefits from its growth. Through distinct yet complementary practices, Brown and Moore investigate the ways Black communities have historically cultivated wealth, resilience, and culture beyond mere financial capital. At the heart of the exhibition is their collaborative bronze coin sculpture, a striking 60-inch relief. Each artist sculpted one side–Moore's featuring a profile portrait of Brown, and Brown's adorned with a bouquet of collard greens–underscoring the significance of plant life in the formation of Black identity. The coin serves as both an artifact and a provocation, prompting viewers to consider who holds value in today's society. Alongside the collaborative sculpture will be individual works by both artists. Moore's paintings draw from 17th century Dutch devotional art, reframing them to celebrate Black culture–with garlands of plants significant to the Black diaspora such as watermelon, hibiscus, and periwinkle surrounding subjects like a Black urban farmer couple. Brown's wall-based sculptural relief works are rooted in ethnobotany and Black aesthetics, drawing inspiration from plants and foods that are at the forefront of her childhood memories. Another Detroit sculptor, Austen Brantley, continues a hot streak of major public commissions with a new statue of Joe Louis commissioned by the City of Detroit set to on the Joe Louis Greenway in August of 2025. Detroit's rising African American artists push boldly into the future on the shoulders of giants like Wright. Giants like Njia Kai and George Shirley. That duo will be celebrated at the GhostLight Arts Initiative's inaugural GhostLight Gala, taking place on Sunday, June 29, 2025, at the Garden Theatre. The event will celebrate five seasons of the Obsidian Theatre Festival, launch a bold new chapter for GhostLight's mission-driven work in the performing arts, and recognize two legendary figures in Detroit's arts community. Kai has been a leader in the Detroit arts and culture scene for decades, programming events that have uplifted Black cultural traditions. Affectionately known as 'Mama Njia' to many, she has mentored and trained countless young artists and producers across Detroit. Shirley was the first African American tenor to perform a leading role at the Metropolitan Opera, a professor at The University of Michigan, and a National Medal of Arts recipient. Proceeds from the Gala will help support GhostLight programming including the Obsidian Theatre Festival, Young Artist Workshop, Detroit Artist Fellowship Program, Neighborhood Engagement Programming, and Encore Michigan.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Quipu: The Inca's Mysterious Recording Device
Long before Spanish colonization, the indigenous people of Peru kept track of important dates and numbers, and perhaps even stories, using a mysterious coding system of strings and knots called a quipu. When the Spanish invaded, they decided these bundles of strings and knots were idolatrous and pagan, in opposition to the Catholic Church. They burned them, hoping to quell any thought of resistance. Quipu means knot in Quechua, the dominant indigenous language in the region. You might mistake a quipu for a brightly colored necklace or headdress, but it is a communication device. Unlike their Mayan and Aztec counterparts, the Incas had no written language. They used quipu instead. Quipus consist of a series of colored, knotted cords made from cotton, wool, or other animal fibers. The knots and their placement on the cords represented numerical values. In some cases, it carried other information, such as dates or records of events. The use of the quipu dates back to 2500 BCE, long before the Inca Empire emerged. We still don't know how it originated. Deciphering quipus is tough. Its purpose and meaning can change depending on the length of the cord, the number of knots, the color, the way the cords are twisted and woven, the material, and the arrangement. While some historians think they were used almost exclusively to communicate numbers, others believe they were capable of storytelling and poetry. Certainly, the main purpose of the quipu was to track and manage the data of populations, goods, resources, and taxes. It was the administrative tool of the empire. Each knot on the cord had a specific value depending on its position, with different knot types (such as single knots, long knots, or figure-eight knots) representing different values. The Incas used the decimal system and knots to record 1s, 10s, 100s, 1000s, and so on. The colors of the cords could indicate categories like resources, people, or geographical locations. For example, red represented warriors or war, white represented silver, and yellow symbolized gold. The quipus were managed by quipucamayocs, which means "quipu authority." These administrators were the record keepers, accountants, bookkeepers, mathematicians, census takers, and historians of the empire. The smooth running of the empire rested almost entirely on their shoulders. The Incas had a complex road network called the Qhapaq Ñan. All these roads led to the capital of Cusco. Endurance runners called chasquis transported quipus along these roads, resting or passing them to other runners in supply stations called tambos posted every few kilometers. Messengers could quickly carry news of an Incan victory, the death of an emperor, or details of an enemy attack from province to province. After smallpox had killed the ruler Huayna Capac, his sons, Atahualpa and Huascar, battled for the throne. Atahualpa triumphed and killed his brother. To further legitimize his ascension, Atahualpa had all records destroyed. This meant burning quipus that recorded anything to do with his brother. Atahualpa even killed the quipucamayocs. "[It was] a total renewal, what the Incas called a pachakuti or a turning over of time and space," historian Mark Cartwright wrote. Later, a Spanish governor of Peru, Vaca de Castro, tried to find quipucamayocs to teach him about the land. Eventually, he came across two who had survived the purge. "They found them wandering in the mountains, terrorized by the tyrants of the past," according to historian John A. Yeakel. Though the Spanish destroyed many quipus, some chose to study them. Inca Garcilaso de la Vega was the son of a conquistador and an Incan prince, and acted as an intermediary between the two peoples. He learned about the quipu as part of his upbringing and wrote extensively about them: When my father's Indians came to town on Midsummer's Day to pay their tribute, they brought me the quipus; and the curacas [local leaders] asked my mother to take note of their stories, for they mistrusted the Spaniards, and feared that they would not understand them. I was able to reassure them by re-reading what I had noted down under their dictation. Likewise, a rogue Jesuit priest named Blas Valera advocated for learning from the quipus. Also half Spanish and half Inca, Valera proclaimed that the Incas were the real rulers of Peru. He died under house arrest in 1597. In 2015, anthropologist Sabine Hyland got a call from the remote Andean village of San Juan de Collata. This little village held some of the last remaining quipus. Villagers granted Hyland access to two quipus from the 18th century. They told her that for years, guarding the quipus was a coming-of-age ritual for local adolescent boys. After seeing one of Hyland's documentaries, the village elders had reached out, hoping she would visit. "Over the next couple days, we would learn that these multicolored quipus, each of which is just over two feet long, were narrative epistles created by local chiefs during a time of war in the 18th century," Hyland wrote. The elders recounted the story of a failed rebellion against the Spanish. A leader, betrayed by his associates, was imprisoned and eventually executed. He had used the quipu to tell his countrymen that he was the ruling Inca Emperor. Not far from the village of San Juan de Collata, Hyland was invited by a local schoolteacher to examine a hybrid quipu. The hybrid was set on a wooden board containing a ledger of names and multicolored quipu threads. "The board bears the names of villagers, while the quipu cord associated with each name indicates the contribution of labor and/or goods that the individual was expected to provide in a community ceremony," Hyland wrote. Much to Hyland's astonishment, quipus were used in the village until the 1940s for communal, administrative, and record-keeping purposes.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Peru restores Nazca Lines protection after backlash over mining risk
LIMA (Reuters) -Peru's government has abandoned a plan that reduced the size of a protected area around the country's ancient Nazca Lines, it said on Sunday, after criticism the change made them vulnerable to the impact of informal mining operations. Peru's Culture Ministry in a statement said it was reinstating with immediate effect the protected area covering 5,600 square kilometers (2162.17 square miles), that in late May had been cut back to 3,200 square kilometers. The government said at the time the decision was based on studies that had more precisely demarcated areas with "real patrimonial value". The remote Nazca region located roughly 400 km (250 miles) south of Lima contains hundreds of pre-Hispanic artifacts and its plateau is famous for the Nazca Lines, where over 800 giant desert etchings of animals, plants and geometric figures were created more than 1,500 years ago. UNESCO declared them a World Heritage site in 1994. A technical panel of government representatives, archaeologists, academics and members of international organizations, including UNESCO, will work together to build consensus on a future proposal for zoning and land use in the area, the Culture Ministry's statement said. According to figures from the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines, 362 small-scale gold miners operate in the Nazca district under a program to regularize their status. Authorities have previously conducted operations against illegal mining in the area.
