Pre-Columbian Cultures

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Search for lost White City to begin this month

For centuries the Pech Indians in Olancho have told a legend of "Kaha Kamasa" or the White City. This was a large city built of white stone that many people did not believe exists. However, using exploration satellite radar images, archaeologists and the Society for the Exploration and Preservation of American History believe they have found the lost city and are preparing an expedition to find it this month.

Ernesto Duarte, the chief of the Pech village of Vallecitos, Culmí county, Olancho, tells a story of the people who lived there -- the Patatahua. This Pech word probably means "our enemies." It is easy to see why the Pech and these Indians were enemies in this legend of the Patatahua, collected by Honduran anthropologist Lázaro Flores in his book "Dioses, Héroes y Hombres en el Mundo Mítico Pech."

"They say these men were humans, but I believe that, no, instead they were probably evil spirits. Their work was to carve the different objects of stone that we can see today in the jungle.

The Watas (the shaman of the Pech) investigated and determined that these beings worked with evil spirits, provoking great hurricanes and storms during which no one could walk, and it was at that moment that the Patatahua worked.

The Wata told that these beings took the unworked stones and threw them on field where they were going to build. With a breath, they melted the stones. Then they took them like clay and began to make all kinds of objects in the forms of lions, monkeys, corn grinding stones, etc."

At the end of the legend, the Pech say that the Patatahua would capture, sacrifice, and eat them. This theme of the Pech, of being attacked and killed by their neighbors, occurs in other stories. In the story of "Jícaro and Cacao," for example, the first seven brothers who went to look for Jícaro and Cacao never returned. In the story of Punta Piedra, the Pech said they had to hunt in patrols because if they went out singly, their enemies would capture and sacrifice them.

Other versions of the White City myth exist. Vicente López, a Garífuna from Trujillo, claims that sometimes it is possible to see this city, other times not.

The radio shows "Leyendas de Honduras" has also recounted stories of a mysterious city in Olancho. Sometimes it is possible to find it, but when people leave, they can never find the way back. Cristobal Rodríguez, a native of Sico, said a man from there had seen the White City, but in spite of several attempts could never find it again.

Soon Hondurans will be able to know more about the White City as several people are organizing expeditions to find it. One such group is SEPHA, or the Society for the Exploration and Preservation of History in the Americas. While members panned for gold in the Río Paulaya region, they heard legends of the Ciudad Blanca and saw smaller sites of mounds and plazas.

Having heard that other groups were analyzing satellite photos to find the Ciudad Blanca, members engaged Privateers, a French company that does Satellite Radar Imagery Enhancement. They were able to identify three possible sites, including one known as the City of the Monkey God. This group plans to produce a documentary about the sites and the Río Plátano Biosphere, which used to be called the Ciudad Blanca Archaeological Reserve. Discovery Channel has expressed an interest in the project.

Like Mayaquest, this group maintains an Internet site http://www.roatanet.com/ciudadblanca. The organization hopes to make the website interactive during the expedition and there will be opportunities to field questions, says SEPHA member Ted Masehal, a resident of Utila.

Another expedition is being planned by Steve Elkins, Steve Morgan and Jeff Blom, who are using data from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. The Japanese are also planning an expedition, working with Chris Begley, an American archaeologist who has already done work in the area.

Determining the exact location of the White City is important, because it will enable the government to protect it. Honduran historians report that looting has already occurred at this site. In Archaeology Magazine, there are many objects from a Site Q, which may have come from this same area.

Developing the site could help promote tourism. However, Honduras should also be concerned about preserving its cultural patrimony. The search for the White City has so captured popular imagination that there is the possibility of writing a best seller on the search for one of the world's last lost cities that people have been trying to find since the beginning of the century.

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