Feathers and Gold: The Corral Redondo Archaeological Project, Peru

Located at the heart of the ‘Nazca-Ocoña Gold Belt’ in southern Peru, the small site of Corral Redondo shot to fame in the 1940s after the looting of spectacular Wari featherworks and other Inka artefacts. While objects dispersed to private and public collections had started to garner scholarly attention, the site itself remained unexplored and decontextualised for decades. Our recent archaeological explorations at Corral Redondo documented unexpected earlier and later occupation phases, along with a dense settlement pattern in the adjacent valleys. The presence of burials following Christian tradition suggest that Corral Redondo continued to serve as a sacred space to the local population well into the Colonial and Republican periods. Drawing from archaeological, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic lines of evidence, in this presentation we attempt to interpret the site’s continuous prominence within the context of long-term gold mining in the region. The project is further developing collaborative strategies with local stakeholders such as educational activities and community museums.