[Aztlan] The Tomb of Atahualpa Found?

[Nick Hopkins]

Let's try this again:


Lima.  A Peruvian archaeologist claims to have found the tomb of  
Atahualpa, the last Inca emperor, although her thesis is not  
supported by the INC (National Institute of Culture), according to a  
report on Tuesday in the Lima daily Perú 21.

Natividad Vásquez says that after 30 years of research she can be  
sure that the body of Atahualpa, assassinated by the Conquistador  
Francisco Pizarro, is in the place called Ventanillas de Jangalá, in  
the province of San Miguel, department of Cajamarca, for which reason  
she asks that archaeologists proceed to excavations.

According to Vásquez, Ventanillas de Jangalá, a complex of pre-Inca  
houses, was the place to which the followers of the emperor carried  
his body after taking it out of the chapel where he had been buried  
after being assassinated in 1533 in the city of Cajamarca, capital of  
the department with the same name.  Some versions point out  
nonetheless that the remains could be in Quito.

Nonetheless, for the head of INC in Cajamarca, Eduardo Cáceres, "we  
cannot say that the remains of Atahualpa are there [in Jangalá], nor  
can we deny anything, because the zone has not been investigated."   
Cáceres said that in her zeal to find the location, she [Vásquez]  
even caused physical damage in the archaeological zone, for which  
reason there is a charge against her brought by INC in the  
[appropriate government office] Fiscalía.

Atahualpa, who lived in Quito, and whose civil war against his  
brother Huáscar enabled the conquest of the empire by the Spanish, is  
considered the last Inca chief, although the Conquistadores put  
others in his place after killing him.

In an episode frequently discussed in historical sources, the  
thirteenth Inca emperor, son of Huayna Cápac, offered the Spanish  
rooms full of gold and silver so they would not kill him.  Although  
he delivered, he was executed.  It is estimated that he was 36 years  
old at the time.