The Lost Civilisation Of Peru (BBC)

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Two thousand years ago a mysterious and little known civilization ruled the northern coast of Peru. Its people were called the Moche.

They built huge and bizarre pyramids that still dominate the surrounding countryside; some well over a hundred feet tall. Many are so heavily eroded they look like natural hills; only close up can you see they are made up of millions of mud bricks.

Several of the pyramids, known as 'huacas', meaning sacred site in the local Indian dialect, contain rich collections of murals depicting both secular and sacred scenes from the Moche world. Others house the elaborate tombs of Moche leaders.

Out in the desert, archaeologists have also found the 2,000-year-old remains of an extensive system of mud brick aqueducts which enabled the Moche to tame their desert environment. Many are still in use today. Indeed there are signs that the Moche irrigated a larger area of land than farmers in Peru do now.

But who were the Moche? How did they create such an apparently successful civilisation in the middle of the desert, what kind of a society was it, and why did it disappear? For decades it was one of the greatest archaeological riddles in South America. But now at last, scientists are beginning to come up with answers.

Today, after 1,500 years, the Moche, and their legacy are beginning to take their place in world history. The story of the Moche is an epic account of society that thought it could control the world and what happened to it when it found it couldn't. It's a story of human achievement and natural disaster, human sacrifice and war.

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Comments

Cool

miroslavv491

I love Bernard Hill's voice!

pascoett

I ams in de field! plantin' mes some watremelons!

Puddles McNiggley

Yassah! Rights aways, fo' sho!

Puddles McNiggley

Puddles, get yo black ass back in the field!!

Fret Puke

If you give the same species, starting from scratch, the same objectives and the same materials, they'll likely come up with similar solutions. It's only later, when their skills, culture and materials become more refined, that you start to see greater variance. Stepped Pyramids are found all across the world, because that particular technique is the only way of building a structure of such great height, using the skills and materials available to less advanced cultures.

Fret Puke

Black guy goes fishing. Gets caught in a storm. Shows up with a little luck in America. Totally possible. Get over it.

walterk1874

LOL! You're bad.

MrDariusantonius

How can we take you seriously if you don't understand how to end a sentence?

steveneinstein

Lol what a moron. Blacks didn't invent anything, they didn't even invent a wheel. The only things they invented are thievery, rape and murder.

666Defcon666

Mah black peeps built de whole dang thing!!! Hey Whiteys-shuts up and listen...MAH PEEPS BUILT DE AFRIKANS, DE GREEKIANS, DE ROMANS, DE EGIPTIANS, DE MEXICANOS, DE STONEHENGES, De PERU PEOPLE,..and I thinks de samuris out in Japans...hab to lookee dat ones up. Also Eafter Island wif de giant statues...negroes did dat too...

Puddles McNiggley

Anybody know why the Ancients in Peru and Ancients in Greece/Turkey have the exact same megalithic stone building methods? 12,000 plus years ago? Maybe its because they are kissing cousins?

arthistoreebc

Also what did Herodotus say the ancient Egyptians were when he visited? lol you fail.

mackroscopik

Ancient Egyptians and Dravidians have always been African along with Cush, Axum, Meroe and Abyssinia. Just because the land was conquered and divided and most of the knowledge stolen and burned ala Timbuktu does not change the true history. Also, you must be blind if you don't know about black Egypt: /watch?v=oL_KS6pQxe4

mackroscopik

Of course what hes saying is dumb but dont be-little subsaharan africa they have had civilisations. Kingdoms of Meroe, Axum, Ethiopia, Benin, Mali and the mysterious stone builders of zimbabwe. Of course, to claim black people formed the ancient south american civs is stupid though.

BVargas78

Aww thankyou so much, re:- name, well that is a slightly less take on what some French call us English due to what most commonly is heared coming out of our mouths lol, re:- comment, for sure, i meant every word of it as it is so true of so many men although not all men i have to admit, as for if it is well put all i can do is take anothers word for it or else i would only be guilty of blowing my own trumpet and i am not quite that narcissistic, well not just yet aleast :D

LeFookoffs

Well, in the case of Rome, they know pretty much precisely what happened. It was a long and slow descent that began with the behaviors of the "Senatorial" classes slowly destroying the Republic and all the guarantees it held for all Roman citizens. Dictatorships followed which further divided (schizmed) the Romans, empire began to drift apart (multiple Romes in different areas) until the Germans and Gauls finally able to destroy. Nothing super epic, but a slow disintegration.

lekkki1

Love your name, comment appropriate and well put.

lekkki1

The last and final religion of Allah [god] ISLAM

FEZAN78

Well i don't actually mind men that are slightly less of a He-Man as men used to be, but what i really meant men behaving like immature children lol, a lot of menare just so childish with their comments, i don't mind so much when it is done out of humour,it's when you can tell they're serious about what they say that is kind of off putting.

LeFookoffs

I doubt this theory. people who have only ever known discipline and community do not suddenly compete for resources in the way this video supposes.

miteaus

Most men have become feminine.And those so called men have lived in a time"world" that they like to think is empowering them.They are only kidding themselfs.

peaks888

Oh!! Lmao, i have been told i am pretty radical at times, extremely radical atother times lol. A real Man eh, now that's a rare thing these days too, especially when you see a lot of the comments on yt that are supposed to be from "grown men" lol, rather worrying at times don't you think ?

LeFookoffs

I think,I think nothing is certain although I think I can handle you.You have a pretty,radical mind a rare thing now a days.But I am a real man you might not to know a man like me..

peaks888

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