Obituaries - Gene Savoy, 80; swashbuckling explorer found lost cities in Peru

Gene Savoy, the swashbuckling adventurer who discovered the legendary Inca city of Vilcabamba, hacked through the mountain jungles of Peru to identify 40 other cities and sailed the oceans in re-creations of primitive vessels to prove his theories about the origins of indigenous South Americans, died of natural causes Sept. 4 at his home in Reno.

He was 80 and had for several years suffered from heart problems that prevented him from returning to the Peruvian mountains.

Lean and lanky with a bandido mustache and a Stetson hat, Savoy embodied the image of the bold explorer. People magazine called him "the real Indiana Jones," and he did his best to uphold the image, calling frequent news conferences to announce his latest discoveries.

But archaeologists alleged that many of his "discoveries" had already been mapped and reported by Peruvian archaeologists or were known to locals, and that his publicizing their locations without scientific follow-up opened them to looting and environmental degradation.

Savoy dismissed his critics as "fuddy-duddy academics. . . . Exploring is the key. The scientist tells you what you have found, but you have to find it in the first place."

A small-town journalist in his native Oregon, Savoy hopped a plane to Peru in 1957 after both his newspaper and his first marriage failed. Writing stories for the English-language Peruvian Times, he began studying ancient texts looking for the location of El Dorado, the fabled city of gold.

Instead, he deduced the location of Vilcabamba, which may have been the last refuge of the Incas as they fled from Spanish conquistadors. By 1965, he had convinced Peruvian authorities and private donors about his findings and set off into the jungle with 100 men and hundreds of horses and mules. After 14 days, they found the site, which has become a major tourist attraction.

Over the next 40 years, Savoy discovered a host of other sites, including Gran Pajaten, Gran Vilaya and Gran Saposoa. Along the way, he was bitten by snakes, lost in the jungle, chased by guerrillas and nearly lynched by irate campesinos. "I hate the danged jungle," he said. But, he added, "I would rather die out there than not explore."

When his heart condition prevented him from returning to Peru, he said, "I feel half alive."

Savoy also took to the seas. In 1969, he built a totora-reed raft that he sailed 2,000 miles from Peru to Central America in an effort to prove that the Aztecs and Incas were in contact.