Huaqueo is a practice of gravedigging to obtain pre-Columbian artifacts. The people who practice are called huaquero(s). Both of these words stem from the word huaca, deriving from the Quechua and Aymara language, meaning “sacred place or object”. During the Spanish Invasion, the indigenous people of the Abya Yala were forced to open the tombs of their ancestors, to destroy said Huacas—to rid of “idolatries” in the name of modernity. This tragedy gave birth to the Huaqueros: once as means to unwillingly destroy local history, now used to refer to the clandestine looters which often sell their findings to museums, private collectors, and others willing to buy it.
Huaquero (Juan Carlos Donoso Gómez, 2024) is a reenactment that shows how these gravediggers practice Huaqueo. Instead of vilifying these gravediggers in the name of modern archeology, we see them practicing it out of necessity, for most of these people come from poverty. The act of digging, modifying, and even forging artifacts is shown in a careful pace, making sure to inform the audience of its tediousness. We, too, see these diggers try to sell their pieces; which are met with suspicion whether they are real or not, and more often than not, with attempts to undervalue said artifacts. Shot in 16mm, we feel the film grain as it evokes a sense of archival old-timey-ness—which also helps its narrative as it tries to deconstruct our perception of these huaqueros.
As Huaquero sensitively reenacts these practices that are looked down upon by modernity and their government, doubts against said modernity start to appear from the new decolonial reading presented by the documentary. The practice of huaqueo, more often than not, is seen as an invalid way to practice proper archeology. But how can that be right when modern archeology has dismissed the “traditional” in its praxis? Throughout the documentary, we see these huaqueros eating coca leaves and smoking cigarettes whilst excavating for buried artifacts. This, unbeknownst to the “modern”, is protocol and even a ceremonial act.
“They usually dig with the “cigarro al oído”, an expression that refers to the habit of swallowing smoke and approaching the cigarette to the ear to hear the noises it will make. […] In general, when a cigarette makes a crackling sound, it is a sign that the chosen place is good for digging, but if it starts to whistle, it is a sign of bad luck; thus, for instance, the hole could collapse or the police arrive. […] When they put the coca in their mouth and start chewing it, it may turn into a sweet and firm ball like a “caramel”, which means a great omen. However, if the leaf becomes bitter and sandy, it is an indication that the chosen spot is not good and that nothing will be found there.”
— Débora L Soares, in her 2021 article “Working with huacos”
When the huaqueros know that what they are going to do is considered a crime in the eyes of the state, they ask the Huaca to give them things to help them support their families. This is exactly what modern archeology fails to acknowledge; that the episteme that built it has dismissed the worlds in which these artifacts exist in: archeological, as they function as material evidence of heritage; ancient, as they function as ritual actors in pre-Hispanic cosmologies; and contemporary, as the huaqueros engages with them as living entities with agency. Modernity’s flawed framework of thought flattens the meaning of “archeological sites” into mere places—when in reality these Huacas are living and sentient entities living in the underground. In this sense, huaqueros exist not only as “looters”, but as individuals who must have specific knowledge and skills to excavate and mediate the relationship between distinct worlds.
As we move forward with the epistemology built upon modernity’s indifference, perhaps “science” and “belief”; “subject” and “object”; or even “past” and “present” don’t function as polar opposites, but instead intertwine. We shall negotiate different worlds and realities, different ontologies—for how are we so sure that these objects don’t speak, when in fact it is us that cannot hear them? (Timmie) (Ed. Vanis)
Film Details
Huaquero
Juan Carlos Donoso Gómez | 81 min | 2024 | Ecuador, Peru, Romania
In Competition for International Feature-Length Documentary
Festival Film Dokumenter 2025
