In 1963 Carlos Torrealva, Mayor of Pataz, discovered the first major complex, GRAN PAJATEN, in the highland jungle, three day’s walk east of Pataz, on the far side of the cordillera at 2,850 meters above sea level.
In 1965, Pedro Rojas Ponce led the first expedition into GRAN PAJATEN, with the idea of exploring, and developing for tourism these previously unknown ruins.  Later that same year, Gene Savoy visited the sites, publishing dramatic photographs in his book ANTISUYO, (Vilcabamba in the U.K.)
In 1966, Victor Pimentel G. led a brief scientific expedition into the region, but little real work was accomplished.
In 1967, Duccio Bonavia led the first archaeological dig at the site, the results of which he published in 1968.  Appearing in that report were quotations from correspondence with archaeologist Henry Reichlen, who was responsible for important work done in the Chachapoyas in 1948. 

 

They concluded:
“ The pattern of circular platforms, filled with rubble, appears to be an exclusive characteristic of the area, and represents a local (construction) technique, which, up to the present, is known only in Departments Amazonas, (La Libertad) and San Martin.  Therefore future studies should understand both zones, since there must exist a relationship between the area under investigation and the Chachapoyas.  As well, there must have existed an avenue of communication.  By using an architectural (and decorative comparison) to define the Abiseo era, we arrived at the conclusion that the (18) structures are definitely post – kuelap.”

…In 1967, the ethno-historian, Waldemar Espinoza Soriano, indicated clearly in his doctoral dissertation that Pajaten-Yaro was an independent curacazgo, a part of the Chachapoyas Confederation.  For many years thereafter, GRAN PAJATEN, because of it’s inaccessibility, remained beyond the pale of public attention, and only at the beginning of this decade has renewed interest been shown.
Between 1980 and 1982, the Peruvian archaeologist Federico Kauffmann Doig led expeditions into the PINCHUDOS site, located a day’s journey southwest of GRAN PAJATEN.  His work has been published in several scholarly journals, and in a film presentation  called  ANDES AMAZONICOS.  The PINCHUDOS is a complex of burial chullpas built into the walls of the eastern slope cliffs.
Again, photographs and the content of several exhibitions have led me to believe that the PINCHUDOS burial chullpas belong to the Revash culture.  The relatively short distance separating the two sites suggests an uncertain relationship between the Kuelap and the Revash Cultures.  This proximity conforms with that of three known Kuelap-Revash complexes in the Utcubamba Valley:  LA JOYA – PETACA, PUEBLO VIEJO – REVASH , and PUEMAL – PENA de TUENTE.
The circular construction with projecting balconies at PINCHUDOS is identical to the construction techniques found at the Revash PENA DE TUENTE site, which is itself an evident imitation of the nearby Kuelap PUEMAL ruins………..

 

Information taken from CHACHAPOYAS, THE CLOUD PEOPLE.  By Morgan Davis
References:  Rojas Ponce. Savoy. Bonavia. Espinoza S.  Kauffman Doig.