Die Grabräuber von Peru - Production & Contact Info (original) (raw)

The arid sand deserts of Peru have been preserving mummies and burial artefacts over many millennia. Recent excavations such as the royal burial chambers of Sipán and the 220 mummies found at the Lake of Condors produced a scientific ...See moreThe arid sand deserts of Peru have been preserving mummies and burial artefacts over many millennia. Recent excavations such as the royal burial chambers of Sipán and the 220 mummies found at the Lake of Condors produced a scientific sensation comparable only to the discovery of the Egyptian tombs. Starting out from these finds, the movie goes in hot pursuit of what happens at and around the excavation sites of Peru. On the one hand there's Peruvian archaeologist Sonia Guillen, who has dedicated her life to the proper scientific investigation of her country's heritage. Her efforts are frequently frustrated by grave looters: entire villages make their living by digging up ancient burying places to get at artefacts which earn the huaceros a few dollars but which bring enormous wealth to international smuggling networks. Quite often it is the grave robbers who put scientists on the tracks of new discoveries - yet every devastated site is another irredeemable loss of our heritage. The documentary illuminates the criminal entanglements of the international antique market and follows the famous FBI art cops in reconstructing the spectacular robbery of one of the most precious artpieces of precolumbian history. Written by ORF Mediaservice Interspot Film See less