The place is Caral, estimated to be 5,000 years old and now a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Peruvian coastal desert about 125 miles north of Lima. Archaeologist Ruth Shady discovered the ruins in 1994. Over the past year, an extended family of squatters has made repeated invasions, claiming that the land — which has increased in value by a factor of ten in the past few years — was given to them by a military government in the 1970s. They’ve threatened the excavation crew and poisoned their beloved dog. – The Guardian
