Through a mix of crime-lab science, archeology and history a new NOVA/National Geographic special, The Great Inca Rebellion, presents stunning new evidence that is changing what we know about the final days of the once-mighty Inca Empire. This probing story of archeological discovery begins in an ancient cemetery crammed with skeletons that offer tantalizing clues about a fierce 16th-century battle between warriors of the collapsing Inca Empire and Spanish invaders.
They have been hastily buried and disfigured by multiple, appalling wounds and fractures. Forensic experts help to determine that these remains are victims of a battle that pitted club-wielding Inca warriors against Spanish cavalry. The forensic evidence may be a decisive clue that helps explain a long-standing mystery about the Spanish conquest of Peru.
How, in 1532, did a tiny band of Spanish soldiers crush the mighty Inca Empire, then the most powerful civilization in the Americas? Were the conquistadors' obvious advantages - steel arms, gunpowder and horses - the key to their success, as is generally supposed? Or were disease and civil war more significant factors that were downplayed by the invaders?
See previews and find out more at pbs.org
Watch it Tuesday, July 15th at 8:00pm on KUAT6 and KUAT-HD
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