The broken skeletons were scattered like random pottery shards, rediscovered where they fell centuries ago.
Were these ancient people cut down in a long-forgotten battle? Did European-introduced diseases cause their demise? Were they casualties of some apocalyptic reckoning at this great walled citadel?
The "cloud warriors" of ancient Peru are slowly offering up their secrets - along with more questions. Recent digs at this majestic site, once a stronghold of the Chachapoya civilization, have turned up scores of skeletons and thousands of artifacts, shedding new light on one of the most remarkable, if least understood, of Peru's pre-Columbian cultures.
Do a search on "Chachapoya" on this blog and you will find some other stories on them linked to in the past.