The mysterious ‘face of Harakbut’ was recently rediscovered in the Amazon rainforest. It has now been declared part of the national cultural heritage of Peru.
What you see in the photo above is what some native Harakbut people call ‘Rostro Harakbut’ – ‘Harakbut face’. It is located in the Harakbut reserve, in a super remote part of the Amazon in southeastern Peru. Its discovery in 2014 sparked widespread curiosity, but it has yet to be studied in depth. So it’s still full of puzzles, and the most important question is: Is it a man-made monument or a natural phenomenon?
The Harakbuts believe that Rostro has always existed, as they have always heard stories about it from their elders. It has been in their oral history from generation to generation. According to them, Rostro is like God to the Harakbut. They also believe that there are two more Rostros. The problem is that they don’t know how to get them. They still found the first one.
Last October, a group of nine Harakbut men, along with British director Paul Redman, visited ‘Rostro’. The film that resulted from that expedition, ‘The Reunion’, was first shown in Lima last November and focuses on two Harakbut chiefs, Luis Tayori and Jaime Korisepa.
In the film, which you can watch below, Tayori says: ‘Four years ago, I worked with Sapiteri [a Harakbut clan] we have heard about, from the elders, Rostro. [It] means a lot to us’, and Korisepa says ‘Rostro has always existed. The problem is we don’t know how to reach him.’ Finally, after confronting it, Tayori said, “This is a reunion with our ancestors. I think this can strengthen our people. . . It’s emotional to see Rostro.’
In that river valley, there is no other rock of similar shape… [It] it sits perfectly above the valley, overlooking a waterfall and a lake that looks like an amphitheater… There are signs everywhere [it] shows it has been hacked with rudimentary tools… There are actually two Rostros – one Rostro in one Rostro – beware…
The rocks along the river are arranged in a way to direct the flow away from the impact in [Rostro’s] face directly, and in a way that makes facial formation impossible due to the effects of even the strongest storms… The Harakbuti have no written history, but claim that Rostro is present in oral tradition. their history from generation to generation.
However, as noted above, according to information from the elders, there are two more ‘Rostros’. This is confirmed by Manuel Roque Prada, who says he took the picture in the photo below in 2009 while working for South American Exploration, the company that hired Hunt Oil for seismic research.
Only recently, the Peruvian Ministry of Culture recognized this place as a “Cultural Heritage of the Nation”, meaning it will be protected from now on. Clearly, however, this means ‘opening the door for more people to learn about the cultural richness of which the aforementioned Madre de Dios Nature Reserve is home’.
We’re not sure if more people will bring anything good to the temple, but let’s hope it all turns out well.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education