Lords of Sipan

When I was a kid, fired up by the Indiana Jones movies, I wanted to become an archaeologist. I thought that being an archaeologist meant having swashbuckling adventures. Later, I learned that archaeology is a serious field of study and involves conducting careful research, both in a university and i......more

This nonfiction book has a heroic Walter Alva who rushes to save Peru's Moche artifacts from being plundered by an international antiquities trade. This professor faces death threats from local looters who sell the gold funeral relics of the Ancients and stir up a violent mob at the excavation site.......more

How Stolen Peruvian Gold Sold, Told 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,......more

A good book detailing how a Peruvian Archaeologist helped save an ancient Mochan tomb from tomb raiders. The raiders had started to plunder the tomb but with minimal help and a lot of pluck Walter Alva is able to save the site and find the first intact Mochan royal burial. The parallel story line co......more

I was lent this book by a good friend who specializes in antiquities trafficking and provenance issues as a 'must-read', and boy was that ever an understatement. Not only did this book do a phenomenal job of covering the basic considerations from all sides of the issue that has arisen of trafficked a......more