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40 pages 1 hour read

Douglas Preston

The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2017

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Chapters 16-19Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 16 Summary: “I’m Going Down”

As the team heads to the site the second day, anthropologist Alicia González gets stuck and sinks into a mudhole, “like something straight out of a B horror film” (150), before they pull her out. They arrive at the site, where the team investigates, photographs, and shoots interviews during intermittent downpours. They venture to an earthen embankment near the camp that was probably a reservoir. They also explore a possible Mesoamerican ballcourt, suggesting a connection with the Maya culture to the north and west.

As they return to camp, they discover dozens of exquisitely carved stone sculptures, “like thrones or tables” (153), and stone jars, all with carved animal heads. Excavations of the area will later reveal hundreds of such artifacts, and this is known as a “cache” in archaeology. Such enormous surface caches are not characteristic of Mesoamerica but are known from the Mosquitia culture, though they have never been found intact before.

The helicopter flies in with a Honduran military officer and Virgilio Paredes, the chief of the Honduran Institute of Anthropology (IHAH).

Chapter 17 Summary: “A Bewitchment Place”

The team explores the ruins again on the third and fourth day, venturing further into the bush. The group realizes how impossible it would have been to find and investigate the site without lidar and GPS, due to the thick vegetation. Alicia, the anthropologist, goes to the Honduran military group’s village, Wampusirpi, to discuss deforestation, cacao growing, and the White City legend with the locals.

Illegal deforestation is rapidly approaching the valley, and a drug trafficking airstrip is spotted outside the entrance to the valley. The site is likely to be looted soon after they leave, and the team wonders what to do about the cache they found, which is possibly worth millions of dollars. Fisher decides against excavating the cache without a permit, insisting that they must wait to excavate the site properly later, following archaeological ethics. One of the ex-soldiers tells Preston that the Honduran military will probably loot the site themselves (though this does not happen).

Chapter 18 Summary: “Quagmire”

Two ethnobotanists arrive to document “any legacy plants that might remain from pre-Columbian times” (171), and they marvel at both the untouched site and the environmental setting. They note the extreme danger that the site will soon be looted and the valley destroyed. Juan Carlos, the team’s chief lidar engineer, scans the cache with a terrestrial lidar machine.

The constant rains finally cease the next day, as part of the team hikes downriver to investigate petroglyphs sighted by the Honduran soldiers. Preston describes the majestic beauty of the valley on the hike, noting that it is “one of the most beautiful and memorable journeys of my life” (176). The petroglyphs are not found due to the rising level of the river.

Due to incoming bad weather, Preston, Elkins, and some of the others are evacuated from the valley a day early, much to their disappointment.

Chapter 19 Summary: “Controversy”

Back in civilization, Preston, Elkins, and Paredes (head of the IHAH) reflect on their discovery that the Mosquitia civilization was as impressive as any in Central America. The organization Conservation International is brought in to help preserve the valley’s flora and fauna. National Geographic publishes a short story by Preston, and the press about the expedition is overwhelmingly popular.

Vicious controversy erupts in the archaeological community. Archaeologist Rosemary Joyce and others pen a letter criticizing the expedition and press stories “that represent antiquated and offensive, ethnocentric attitudes” (186) for not recognizing prior indigenous knowledge of the site. Preston recognizes some valid points in the letter and notes that archaeologists were once quite colonialist and ethnocentric. However, Preston parries other false criticisms, pointing out the hypocrisies of some of the detractors. Paredes suggests that these archaeologists are simply upset “because they were not involved” (191).

Chapters 16-19 Analysis

The anecdote of Alicia González talking with the people of Wampusirpi in Chapter 17 notes the threats to archaeological sites in Mosquitia as well as the natural environment. Deforestation by illegal settlers is a massive problem in Central America, and Preston details how this affects rural farmers. Preston also introduces the concept of archaeological ethics, given the possible imminent threats of looting of the site and the cache. Preston neutrally outlines the arguments for and against excavating the cache without a permit, highlighting the complexities of archaeological research, as archaeologists frequently face such ethical quandaries.

As the first members of the team are evacuated from the valley, Preston melancholically muses that their research has removed the mystery of the site and the valley, “stripping it of its secrets” (181). Preston’s musing underscores the appeal of mysteries and legends, which are often more appreciated than knowledge and scientific truth. The legend of the White City has faded, replaced by a real, if less mysterious, archaeological reality. While this may be less appealing to popular audiences initially, Preston emphasizes the importance and excitement of archaeological research.

When Preston explores the controversy incited by the expedition and the press reports about it, he acknowledges some valid criticisms but pushes back against many more. The tone in these criticisms is dry but indignant and works to garner sympathy from the reader. Preston does not accept that their expedition or the press release were racist, ethnocentric, or misleading, and he systematically and deftly deflates these charges.

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