Julio César Tello Rojas

‘The first time I had in my hands the skull of an Inca mummy,’ wrote Julio Tello, ‘I felt a profound emotion. That skull… connected with my heart and made me feel the message of the race whose blood ran through my veins.’ For the future ‘father of Peruvian archaeology’ was a Quechua-speaking indigenous Peruvian. Tello was born with boundless energy – and an aunt, Maria, who was a maid in Lima, at the presidential palace. In spring 1893, he took a four-day horseback ride to begin his education at the Colegio de Lima. His father died soon after and, though Maria continued to pay his fees, Tello had to work odd jobs selling newspapers and as a railway porter. He excelled at s