I too saw this excellent documentary on NetFlix. As you can see this ignites a lot of people and we want top see more. I wonder if any explorers of late have gone into those areas, especially near campsites with some good metal detectors? Although their bones are long gone, artifacts of the expedition might be found. Perhaps there is so much metal in the ground it is impossible.

Glad to hear how many people are enjoying this show and arguing over the many aspects of this complex story- that’s why I got into filmmaking! It was a pleasure to research, plan the expedition and go out on a real-life treasure hunt using modern GPS and the ancient Portuguese manuscript and other clues to locate Dead Horse Camp- the first time the camp has been found; also we discovered the “magical/spiritual” waterfall referred to Fawcett in his logs and by the Portuguese fortune hunters.

Of course I have spent a lifetime with this story since my mother briefly helped raise Fawcett’s grand daughter Rolette in Switzerland after World War II..and it is through our close connection with her, the family biographer Lowther and Fawcett’s own papers that we were able to glean the truth about Fawcett’s journey- not presented officially in any biography about him: the true spiritual purpose of his journey and that he did not make it into the Xingu. He was stopped dead in his tracks in the Mato Grosso near Dead Horse Camp.

Therefore speculations about the longhouses in the Xingu (Kuikuro people) and trenches being excavated by Heckenberger, are based on the supposition that Percy made it that far into the jungle or that tales of gleaming adobe-style mud houses were mistaken for marble buildings and passed down as lost-city legends. Remember every expedition to find Fawcett (including the recent book) since 1927 went on a wild chase deep into the Xingu jungle- based on the decisions of Col Dyott (official RGS rescue party) to go into the Xingu; remember as we revealed Dyott ignored the testimony of an unsavory character- Captain Miranda in the Mato Grosso who claimed Fawcett was killed by bandits. Based on our research with the revelations of the signet ring and corrected (un-coded) map coordinates and more, we maintain that Percy Fawcett did not make it that far. If you look at the design of the Xingu (Kuikuro) village- communal sites being unearthed by Heckenberger- they are interesting and point to a large population, but in my estimation don’t necessarily have all the qualities that a “Lost City of Z” should have- namely a massive infrastructure.

We went to the Acre state in the Western Amazon (which Fawcett mapped in 1907)- near Rio Branco to explore the recent discoveries of “Geoglyphs”- a massive site, more than 160 sq miles across, featuring hundreds of complex geometrically shaped religious sites- trenches, earth works, mounds and evidence of a truly massive civilization living in the jungle. This existed 2000 years ago- and may have spurred the legends Fawcett was seeking. There are many candidates for “The Lost City of Z” and Fawcett’s foray into the Mato Grosso toward the Xingu- may have been only one of the avenues he was pursuing: the Chachapoyas (known as “The Cloud People”) in Peru- who lived in a stone city on the edge of the Andes- beside the Amazon were said to be “white or pale-skinned” natives living next to the Incan empire; they may have been the people Fawcett heard about (and refers to in his journals) whom the Incans had warned to flee the Spaniards; Did the Chachapoyas come down further south into the jungle and build another stone city somewhere else in the Amazon? That’s another piece of recent research we just dug up. We’ll likely never know the truth. It’s just part of the ongoing mystery of Col Fawcett.

Audrey- as far as paying people off to find the bodies goes- sounds like a good idea! All I can say is, when we spoke to Brian Ridout, who is in the film, and brought the ring out of Brazil- there was a whole cast of shady characters he spoke to: who made up stories and refused to be nailed down to exact dates (of where they were, and when) and also remember much time had passed. From the 1925 disappearance of Fawcett to Ridout’s enquiries in the early 1970’s is a very long time and some people had died, the shop keeper Grisolia’s wife stayed quiet on the whole story- even after her husband died- and it was only years later when she had moved again- then Ridout was able to acquire the ring.

Sorry Thom don’t know about the flashing you are referring to between scenes. It wasn’t on our master tape and I certainly wouldn’t have let it go out like that and PBS technical department wouldn’t have approved it like that. Perhaps there was a problem with the broadcast you saw, or the DVD you viewed it on. There is no flashing in the show….

Thanks again for all the comments…I’m sure Col Percy Fawcett will continue to draw much interest and controversy as he always has over the decades!

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I stumbled upon this blog because I was interested in the Viennese Lippizzaner horses. Unfortunately, the program was unavailable to me (in Ontario). While browsing a bit further I came upon this page and the one before it. Languages and archaeology are two of my passions. I saw some of the older Viennese stallions one summer. They remain in the barn at the palace in Vienna. They are so beautiful. Unfortunately, of course the older ones don’t perform much any more and probably especially in the summer.

Then I saw the article about the interaction with German soldiers after the war. My father barely made it out of Russia at the end of the war and barely escaped at least one Russian firing squad. Fortunately, he was good at long-distance sports and ran from it, later swimming one of the big rivers to Rumania where farmers gave him food and some warmer clothing for him to make it back to my mother and me.

But I was especially interested in the last two stories here. Unfortunately we don’t often get archaeological news here if it doesn’t directly concern us. I once got a book from the library about the City of Z. Other things got between that book and me, and I’Il try to get it again soon. I think general-interest stories like these should be made available more easily. Yes, the Internet makes such things attainable, but if you don’t have the time to search constantly, and hope that you find something by a fluke, you get nowhere fast. I’ll certainly be looking at your site more avidly to find more stories that interest me. It’s almost 3:00 a.m. and I should get to sleep.