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(55,894 posts)Peru's most sacred site, Machu Picchu, has been damaged during a shoot for a beer commercial.
They've struck at our most sacred inheritance. This is an affront to our ancestors
Archaeologist Federico Kaufmann Doig
The Inca citadel, 2,400 metres (7,782 feet) high in the Andes, was being used in the ad for Cusquena beer by US publicity firm J Walter Thompson when a crane smashed into a centuries-old granite sun clock.
The Intihuatana, or "hitching post for the sun", an integral part of the spectacular site which is protected by the UN and is visited by thousands of tourists every year, now has a gash as long as a ball-point pen.
Criminal charges, which carry a two-to-four-year prison sentence have been filed against the production company.
Federico Kaufmann Doig, a prestigious Peruvian archaeologist, said: "Machu Picchu is the heart of our archaeological heritage and the Intihuatana is the heart of Machu Picchu.