Peru is also known to most of us because of Machupicchu, the magnificent Inca ruins of a city high in the Andean mountains. If we know a bit of geography, we also know that Peru lies on the Pacific coast of South America and is bordered by many countries: Columbia, Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia and even Chile, the other Pacific coast South American country.

Fortunately, thanks to fairly recent archeological excavations we now know that the Incas were preceded by a technologically developed culture, the Sicán, who brought their people into the bronze age, had highly developed metallurgical skills with craftsmanship that far surpassing anything we know of the Incas. They were goldsmiths of such ability that even with today's technological advances, it is difficult to imitate some of the finer objects that were found in what is called the East Tomb, 11 meters below ground at Batán Grande, and the great pyramid mount called Huaca Loro. In addition, they had a highly developed ceramic industry that produced blackware and other ceramic objects of considerable esthetic value.

Some of the treasures unearthed by the archeological team headed by Dr. Izumi Shimada, are now on view at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) until August 6, 2007. Ancient Peru Unearthed is an exhibition not to be missed. Looking at the objects on display, we can only be grateful that the Sicán culture ceased to exist from around AD 1375. Consequently, the treasures of this culture were preserved as they vanished beneath centuries of sand and soil as the Sicán were superseded by the Chimú (AD 1375-1450) until the rise of the Chimú-Inca. Thanks to Pizarro and his gang of adventurers the latter ceased to exist as a cohesive people after 1532 with the capture of Atahualpa, one of two warring brothers for the 'crown' of the country. At Pizarro's request, Atahualpa was strangled a year later, after he had relinquished a vast horde of gold objects that was supposed to have bought his freedom. One can almost feel gleeful that Pizarro eventually found his own violent death by an assassin in Lima in 1541, though that was of little help or solace to the Natives of Peru suffering under the domination of the Spaniards.

Ancient Peru Unearthed, which took an astonishing 10 years to put together, is beautifully arranged in several sections, all of which show off these ancient treasures to their best. An audio guide can further enhance the understanding of what the visitor sees in the many display cases. There are not only gold objects of great beauty, but also pottery, some of which has an elegance of line one does not expect from a people that existed at a time when Europe was still in the thralls of the Dark Ages. One can only shake ones head at the arrogance of our forefathers, who described the peoples of the Americas as primitive, even as savages. The astonishing blackware shows a knowledge of the firing process of ceramics that was unknown in northern Europe when the Sicán ruled in their northern Peruvian kingdom. It displays a sophistication from a period dating back more than a thousand years that is entirely unexpected in the western hemisphere.

There would be even more artifacts and other objects if the many tombs along the northern coastal region of Peru had not been subjected to extensive looting. When the archeological excavations began in 1978, they found more than 100,000 looter holes, many of them dug by bulldozers. One can well imagine the damage these machines will have caused to fragile objects buried deep below the surface.

The archeologists found more than a ton of grave goods in the East Tomb. These items were of varied materials, from the finest gold objects to beads and shells. The weight of the soil that had been piled above the tomb chamber, 11 meters below ground, compressed many of the objects and it took considerable skill of conservators to bring them back to their original luster. Yet, to show also what the archeologists came across when they excavated these objects, the display shows a cracked, corroded and dirt-encrusted, tumi-shaped headdress, which shows the effects of the millennium of gravitational pressure, and the exposure to groundwater in the East Tomb at Huaca Loro. It really brings home what it takes to bring us such treasures in the fine condition in which most are on display here.

The Sicán people were great traders and seafarers. Hence, they obtained materials that were not necessarily found in their realm. Their name, incidentally, come from the language of the Moche, a society that preceded them. Sicán means 'temple of the moon', and as a consequence one cannot escape noting that the crescent moon is a recurring symbol on many Sicán artifacts on display in Ancient Peru Unearthed.

One found oneself being amazed, even enthralled by the objects, the delicate headpieces that are decorated with paper-thin gold pieces that probably jingled most melodiously in the wind during special ceremonies. Then there is the fine model of the excavation of the tomb deep below the ground. It makes one wonder how the Sicán managed to build shafts of such depth without the earth collapsing around them. For, unlike the Egyptian royal tombs that had chambers for the housing of the dead within pyramids, the Sicán lords and what appear to be family members, were buried at the bottom of vertical shafts measuring about three square meters at the depth of about 11 meters.

It appears that the Sicán had no writing, yet they had the ability to combine copper, gold and silver with arsenic to produce fine metals. They were thus able to control the strength and color of these alloys that made them malleable enough to create what we now can describe as masterpieces.