A desert rich in fossils is being taken over by man – 10/09/2023 – Science

Millions of years ago, this desert in Peru was a meeting place for extraordinary sea creatures: walking whales, walrus-faced dolphins, sharks with teeth the size of a human face, red-feathered penguins, aquatic sloths.

These animals bred in the calmer waters of a shallow lagoon protected by hills that still adorn the landscape today. At one point, tectonic movements separated the land from the sea. More than 10 thousand years ago, human beings arrived, and with them, art, religion and monumental architecture.

The details of this remote past were meticulously reconstructed by the researchers, who were based on traces found in bones and tombs scattered throughout the Pisco basin, a thick layer of sediment rich in fossils that covers an area of ​​518 square kilometers of arid terrain and riverine areas between the Andes mountain range and the Pacific coast in southern Peru.

Discoveries in the region have been made at an accelerated pace in recent decades, with at least 55 new species of marine vertebrates identified to date. In August, paleontologists presented what may be the region’s most remarkable discovery yet: the Perucetus colossusmanatee-like whale that is now considered the heaviest animal that ever lived.

“It seems like there’s always something new coming out of Peru,” commented Nicholas Pyenson, a paleontologist and curator of marine mammal fossils at the Smithsonian Institution.

However, it is not just the abundance of fossils that makes the region special. “On several occasions, we have discovered species here that simply don’t exist anywhere else, and why that is is still a mystery,” Pyenson added.

But Peruvian paleontologists warn that this unique wealth of bones is being threatened by one of the sneakiest ways a nation’s natural and cultural heritage can be lost: unplanned development.

In the agricultural town of Ocucaje, which serves as an access point to the Pisco basin, the desert is quickly being subdivided into housing developments, slums and farms. New roads are being built, crossing areas of desert and wind-shaped dunes. Along these roads, mud barricades and barbed wire fences were erected.

“We are being cut up. This was an open field. There were no roads before, just land. But in recent years everything has been fenced off,” said Laura Peña, mayor of Ocucaje, as she surveyed the rectangles marked out in the sand on the outskirts of town.

According to Peña, this transformation was so rapid that she is still trying to find out who owns what, and to what extent these subdivisions comply with the legislation. Like many other small-town mayors, Peña does not have detailed mapping of the land in his district and has difficulty keeping up with decisions made by provincial and regional governments. She said many areas contain fossils or pre-Columbian sites that should have been listed years ago.
Uncontrolled growth has been a challenge for preserving Peru’s ancient ancient ruins, particularly in the arid coastal region, where pre-Columbian civilizations flourished in the river valleys now inhabited by Peruvians.

In the district of Ocucaje, Manuel Uchuya, 73, lives in a slum above a ceremonial center belonging to the pre-Columbian culture of Paracas. More than a century ago, German archaeologist Max Uhle identified several mummies that were at least a thousand years old while excavating the site. “We had nowhere else to go,” Uchuya said.

The place had already been the target of looting when, around two decades ago, Manuel Uchuya and his wife decided to build a shack on a small piece of land where they lived during their retirement. Near the shack, the remains of an old adobe wall, remaining from the pre-Columbian era, were still visible. On the floor, there were fragments of pottery, ears of corn and pieces of reddish fabric.

Because of Peru’s huge housing deficit, neighborhoods tend to be built first and legalized later. In the last 15 years, 90% of urban development took place informally, that is, outside of regulations, as noted by lawyer Andres Devoto.

In the arid region between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, which is home to most of Peru’s population and economic activity, there has been a decrease in land availability, which has stimulated real estate speculation and resulted in claims for settlements in areas that are increasingly unlikely.

Ocucaje, a remote corner of the agricultural export region of Ica in southern Peru, is home to a population of fewer than 5,000. This community does not have a sanitation system and has an annual budget of around US$30,000 for public works projects. In the past, its residents worked without pay on local farms until land reform in 1969. Today, most residents plant, harvest seaweed or seek employment in cities as laborers.

In the central square of Ocucaje, children play with a sculpture of a megalodon, a shark three times the size of a great white shark, while a local museum displays fossils for tourists.

Mario Urbina Schmitt, a paleontologist based in the capital, Lima, and one of Peru’s most prolific fossil hunters, said he was shocked to return to the region in 2021, after a period of Covid lockdowns. While many Peruvians faced restrictions, land claims and occupations in the area exploded. “It’s like going to the Grand Canyon and suddenly seeing signs everywhere saying, ‘This is mine!'” he said.

Archaeologists know Ocucaje as an intersection of ancient civilizations — a place where the Paraca and Nazca people carved figures of animals and warriors into the hillsides, and the Incas opened a path to connect the region to their empire.

Paleontologists classify the region as one of the best places in the world to study the evolution of marine animals. The city receives, on average, just a millimeter of rain per year, and this dry climate has helped preserve even the red color of the five-foot-tall Inkayacu penguin’s feathers and the hair-like filters found in its mouth. of whales.

“In terms of variety and abundance, this area is more than a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s as if you had a Wadi al-Hitan from many different periods”, highlighted Pyenson, making an analogy with the famous archaeological site of marine fossils in Egypt.

Urbina Schmitt, who dedicated four decades to exploring the Ocucaje desert, said she still finds an impressive amount of fossils, which allows her to be selective in her discoveries: “Anyone can find a normal whale, they are everywhere. Not even I count these. I’m looking for new creatures, strange ones.”

Ten years ago, he spotted a Perucetus vertebra embedded in the side of a cliff. The revelation of this new species, published last month in an article in the journal Nature that he co-authored, was celebrated in Peru.

At the Natural History Museum of Lima, where the vertebrae and part of the pelvis of Perucetus are on display, visitors line up to take a selfie next to Urbina Schmitt. “It’s like we won the World Cup,” he commented.

Paleontologists in Peru are hopeful that this enthusiasm will translate into greater support for their efforts to preserve Ocucaje.

For years, Peruvian government authorities have debated the creation of some type of park in Ocucaje. But progress has been minimal, in part because of disagreements over which state institution should lead the effort.

In 2021, the Institute of Geology, Mining and Metallurgy, linked to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, assumed responsibility for overseeing the protection of fossils, removing it from the Ministry of Culture. However, it is currently evaluating which areas should be designated as protected and plans to submit a new proposal to include the region on the UNESCO World Heritage list, said César Chacaltana, director of paleontology at the institute.

Meanwhile, at least four real estate projects are announcing lots for building houses in the Ocucaje desert. In videos shared on social media, one of them cites the discovery of Perucetus as a reason to invest in the region, while another promotes motorcycle tours in the desert.

According to Chacaltana, none of these projects requested the appropriate license to carry out a prior check for the presence of fossils on their land, as required by law since 2021, before starting any construction. It appears that heavy machinery has already leveled the ground in some of these demarcated areas, which may have eliminated any remains. “Any trace that could have existed on the surface would have been destroyed,” said Ali Altamirano, a paleontologist at the institute.

Peña suspects that at least some of the newly demarcated areas in Ocucaje may be related to the activities of land grabbers, who organize occupations as a means of appropriating public lands. “And we don’t know what their intentions are here in Ocucaje. After all, there is no water here. We only receive water once a week.”

Under Peruvian laws designed to protect landless citizens, squatters cannot be easily removed from unoccupied public land and, over time, have the right to request title and access to public services from authorities.

But criminal groups are taking advantage of these protections. They usually hire individuals to set up shacks on unoccupied land and then require property titles that can be sold or reused. In other situations, they resort to violence or bribery to obtain approvals from local authorities.

Some of the fenced areas in Ocucaje reveal only discreet signs of occupation. Nearby Cerro Blanco, where weathered signs point out clusters of whale fossils to visitors, stands a single brick house exposed to the sun, devoid of access to the water and without any visible sign of occupation. “We never see anyone in this house. It doesn’t seem to be the work of a family in need,” noted Elvis Ormeño, a local tour guide.

The winds that whip the desert dunes still hide and reveal traces of the remote past; you need trained eyes to see them. Paleontologists and archaeologists fear that unbridled development in Ocucaje could compromise potentially valuable discoveries before they are revealed.

“You’re there day after day, doing your job, and you might not see a geoglyph because of the way the sun hits the landscape. And then when you do, the rocks line up and you realize the presence of a geoglyph.” , said Lisa DeLeonardis, an art historian at Johns Hopkins University.

Geoglyphs — large-scale drawings created by scraping soil or aligning rocks — used to be attributed exclusively to the Nazca civilization, whose famous figures stretch across the desert about 50 miles to the north. But according to DeLeonardis, ancient Paraca geoglyphs are increasingly being discovered in the Ocucaje Hills and nearby valleys.

One resident, Mirtha Mendocilla, 28, recalled the day she took her son and his friends to see a geoglyph that locals had spotted not far from the city. However, when they got there, they found fences and a sign that said “Private Property.” “What do you mean, private property? This is our heritage. We need to preserve it before it is damaged,” she said.