Retracing the Lost Trade Routes of Ancient South American Peoples
In 1998 and 1999 legendary explorer Colonel John Blashford-Snell led one of the most ambitious expeditions since Thor Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki. It was an epic journey that spanned a continent and provided evidence that ancient South American peoples could have been trading with Africa 1,000 years before Christ.
Intrigued first of all by the idea that Plato's Atlantis might have been on a vast Bolivian plain high in the Andes, then fascinated by the notion that pre-Inca people and their trade goods might have found their way down central South America's massive rivers to the Atlantic and even across it, "Blashers" commissioned a fleet of traditional reed boats - the largest named "Kota Mama" - in which to test these theories.
John Blashford-Snell and Richard Snailham recount their amazing story of adventure and discovery, of lost civilisations and little-known archaeological sites, and of seventy-five people whose combined efforts ensured the success of the Kota Mama Expedition.
