Unearthed After 1,400 Years: The Unsettling Pre-Inca ‘Mummies’ Emerging from Their Burial Sites in Peru.
The recent excavation work at the Huaca Tupac Amaru B site near Peru’s national sports village in the capital, Lima, has revealed fascinating finds, say scientists.
Each skeleton found lying in a bed of woven reeds, a burial custom typical of the Wari culture and earlier. The site contains eleven pre-Inca tombs, some dating back more than 1,400 years, has been discovered near a sports center in Peru.
An archaeological team began excavation work at the Huaca Tupac Amaru B site near Peru’s national sports village in the capital, Lima, in December. Yesterday, they unveiled their findings so far, which include the well-preserved graves containing eleven pre-Hispanic bodies.
The well-preserved skeletons were wrapped in cloth and surrounded by ceramics, textiles, fruit tree leaves, and tools used for agricultural purposes.
Archaeologist Fernanda Herreras, head of the project, said, “These sets of remains belong to the Lima culture, which developed between A.D. 200 and 700. The later eight skeletons come from the Yschma culture, between A.D. 1000 and 1400.”
Each skeleton was found lying on a bed of woven reeds. The bodies were tied with braided cotton and covered by one or more cloths. They were buried with ceramics, textiles, fruit tree leaves, and tools used for agricultural purposes.
The 400-squared-meter site contains just a few meters from where Peru’s national football team trains.
Archaeologist Bruce Shaffer discovered a recently excavated Pre-Hispanic vessel next to a mummy at the site in Lima.
The archaeology site lies just a few hundred meters from where Peru’s national football team trains.
Historian Felipa Villacorta, an archaeology expert and director of the private Antonio Raimondi museum, said the find at the sports center would add to ‘the music and image of the Lima culture that is very diverse’ compared to the Nazca and Moche civilizations that developed simultaneously in other parts of the coast of what is now Peru.
Unfortunately, not much is known about the Lima culture, he said, partly ‘because the city, the capital, has grown over it.’
In addition, there has been more interest in the ‘pre-Hispanic cultures that are outside the metropolitans are – the Moche, Nazca, Wari,’ he added.
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