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Lost Kingdoms of South America

Jago Cooper

John MacLaverty

Mary Downes

Lost Kingdoms of South America: Episode 1: People of the Clouds

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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

People of the Clouds

Episode 1

Episode 1: People of the Clouds

BBC Four - Lost Kingdoms of South America, People of the Clouds

The Chachapoyas were an Andean people who had sophisticated methods of recording stories.

Jago Cooper journeys into the Peruvian Andes in search of the Chachapoya people, whose funeral traditions challenge assumptions about ancient human behaviour.

Archaeologist Dr Jago Cooper embarks on an epic journey into the remote Peruvian Andes in search of the mysterious Chachapoya people. Once numbering half a million, they were known as the 'People of the Clouds'. Dr Cooper reveals how they developed sophisticated methods of recording stories, traded in exotic goods found hundreds of miles from their territory, and had funeral traditions that challenge assumptions about ancient human behaviour. His search for evidence takes him to astonishing cliff tombs untouched for 500 years and one of the most spectacular fortresses in South America, where the fate of the Chachapoya is revealed.

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Dr Jago Cooper reveals the history of some of South America's ancient civilisations

Archaeologist Dr Jago Cooper reveals the extraordinary history of some of South America's ancient civilisations

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Lost Kingdoms of South America

Episode 1: People of the Clouds

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