The “protoarchaeology” in Peru in the 19th century

Abstract

The beginning of european tradition for the discovery of the precolombian cultures from a romantic-geographical perspective goes back to the first decades of the 19th century and is due to the innovative offers of germanic geographers such as Alexander Von Humbolt and K. Ritter, who having joined romanticism to geographic knowledge allowed a spread of this science to a cognitive vision with the good use of analysis and metaphors. In this context, take place the first european proto-arqueological expeditions in Perú, headed by the outstanding researchers Charles Wiener, George Squier, Ernest W. Middendort and Thomas Hutchinson. These new looks analyzed and valued the historical past of Peru and publicized it to the entire world.