Cradle of Gold: The Story of Hiram Bingham, a Real-Life Indiana Jones, and the Search for Machu Picchu

"Cradle of Gold" builds a fascinating case concerning the difficulty in separating exploration from possession, archaeology from imperialism. Heaney gives a balanced account of Hiram Bingham, a complex, contradictory figure, showing his many merits as an explorer (the book includes vivid expeditionary adventures) as well as his archaeological errors and moral transgressions. Where the book could turn heavy-handed or polemical, Heaney is able to keep his focus on the narrative and give space for the ambiguities in the history. And it's a history well-told: informative, compelling, and relevant - weaving together the career of Hiram Bingham, the fall of the Incan Empire, the battle over artifacts between Yale and Peru, and much more. The research, conducted over many years, is thorough and also thoroughly digested by the author. He's able to work an enormous body of information - including documents from both Yale and Peruvian collections - into a highly readable narrative that at times feels like an intellectual detective story. This book should be a must read for visitors to Machu Picchu, as well as those interested in the battles over repatriation of artifacts, the history of archaeology and, yes, Indiana Jones. And the history is far from over. Legal battles between Yale and Peru are supposedly heating up again... Highly recommended reading!

I read several books prior to visiting Macchu Pichu including by Hiram Bingham. I read Cradle of Gold after returning and wish it had been available before my trip. This gives an excellent picture of the true Hiram Bingham, what he accomplished and how he accomplished these goals. A terrific read allowing the reader who has been there to accurately visualize all that took place, and the person just interested in this amazing sight gets a wonderful description of it, it's "discovery" and a great explanation of it's probable purpose. M. Leiter

it matters what Yale was like, for Hiram Bingham III.... because you cannot understand his desire to explore South America without understanding why he wished to join the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War. You cannot understand his academic pursuits without understanding his grandfather's successful book about Hawaii, or his father's translations. The context here is the story, and the story is told in this book wonderfully well. How did Hiram Bingham find Machu Picchu? The narrative weave takes you from Inca temples to Hawaiian missionaries, from penny dreadfuls to serious scholarship, from a lust for gold to questions about the disposition of artifacts. You are never lost, because the text is tight, the story compelling. One begins to think that THIS would make a better Indiana Jones movie, one with true and layered heroes who, yes, make great discoveries, but also who face true ethical dilemmas. And this book was a rip roaring good read. I recommend this highly.

I loved this book!!! It's the story of how Hiram Bingham (often called the real-life Indiana Jones) discovered Machu Picchu (a lost city of the Incas) in Peru. It seemed like it was the author's graduate thesis, and it was superbly researched and written. The author consulted so many sources (even Hiram's jourmals and letters he wrote home to his wife at the time!) that the story flows along with no gaps. I liked that the author portrayed Hiram honestly. It seems like he was a really fascinating and mysterious character, and also kind of a screw-up who just had a lot of persistence, and who made a few majorly bad decisions along the way! This story has adventure, smuggling, Survivor-like alliances, death, and greed, and a cast of scientists led by a semi-bumbling rookie who looked exactly like Conan O'Brien. I honestly was picturing what the movie version would look like as I was reading it! A great deal of Inca history is discussed, especially what happened to them when the Spanish Conquistadors came. Stuff like whole empires toppling because the Inca emperor wouldn't leave his pregnant wife behind to flee to safety. These parts of the book were SUPER sad. The author also touches on the recent topic of Peru trying to get back all the artifacts Hiram took during his expeditions. This leads into a general discussion of who should own there things. Hiram had verbal agreements with certain officials, and people on the other side have legal regulations that may or may not have been in effect at the time. All in all, a very interesting book. It makes me want to go to Machu Picchu to check it out!

Yale University and the government of Peru still disagree on whether the artifacts of Machu Picchu at the Peabody Museum are looted treasures, or archeological evidence legally exported. A lot of the romance of archeology has disappeared into the politics of ownership of the past, ownership of ancient sites by the (possible) distant ancestors of the people of those sites, ownership by current governments, or ownership within the science framework, or science aspect of the colonial framework. In his day though, Hiram Bingham was an imposing, and romantic, figure whose fictionalized versions include Indiana Jones. The road to Machu Picchu is still the Hiram Bingham highway and we owe a lot of the rediscovery of the Incan cities to his efforts in the early part of the 20th century. The Cradle of Gold is a rapidly moving popular survey of Bingham and his explorations in South America, with enough earlier history included to make sense of the importance of the archeological sites. It's well-written and quite fair in its assessment of Bingham in his own time and place, as well as in light of the current controversies and demands for repatriation of artifacts. There's a real sense of excitement in the exploration narrative, finding the hiding spots, the retreat of the Incas from the Spanish invasion (or more bluntly, genocide). The book would be of interest for those looking to understand the importance of Machu Picchu, those interested in early 20th century epic explorations, and those interested in the ultimate disposition of archeological artifacts.