Lords of Sipan: A Tale of Pre-Inca Tombs, Archaeology, and Crime

Kirkpatrick ( A Cast of Killers ) engagingly recounts how Peruvian archeologist Walter Alva out-maneuvered huaqueros (grave robbers), international smugglers and governmental interference to successfully excavate one of the richest deposits of pre-Columbian artifacts in South America. Alva, who publicized his discovery in National Geographic , mobilized a depleted local police force, recruited indigenous laborers, ingeniously neutralized community resistance, and raised sufficient funding to painstakingly sift through a Huaca Rajada burial site for evidence of Moche royalty in the coastal valleys of northern Peru, skillfully unfolds this stirring drama of one man's fight to preserve his country's cultural heritage. Photos not seen by PW. (Oct.)