3,000-year-old Peruvian mummy found under trash dump may have been left as a sacrifice
Peruvian archaeologists have discovered an approximately 3,000-year-old mummy underneath a rubbish dump.
The three-millennia-old mummy is thought to have been originally left as a sacrifice inside the tomb during the final construction phase of an ancient temple.
The incredible discovery was made in the capital Lima on Wednesday, the latest find in the Andean nation dating to pre-Hispanic times.
Students from San Marcos University and archaeological researchers initially found remains of the mummy’s hair and skull in a cotton bundle during excavation, before uncovering the rest of the mummy.
Some eight tonnes of rubbish had to be removed from the location before excavation of the remains could begin on the site.
The mummy is thought to date back to the Manchay culture, archaeologist Miguel Aguilar said.
The Manchay is a pre-Inca indigenous polity which developed in the valleys of Lima between 1500 and 1000 BC.
The group are associated with the construction of temples built in a U-shape that pointed toward the sunrise.
The person ‘had been left or offered (as a sacrifice) during the last phase of the construction of this temple,’ Aguilar said. ‘It is approximately 3,000 years old.’
Archeologists unearthed other items buried with the body, including corn, coca leaves and seeds, which they believe may have been part of an offering.
Mr Aguilar said that the newly discovered mummy had been placed in the tomb at the centre of a U-shaped temple.
He added that the condition of the remains aligned with characteristics from the Manchay culture as the body had been laid out flat.
The remains were also found wrapped in cloth made from cotton and vegetable fibre.
Mr Aguilar said the individual is believed to have been ‘left or offered [as a sacrifice] during the last phase of construction of this temple’.
Mummification was practiced by several ancient cultures around the world and specifically within what is now modern day Peru.
The mummies were buried in both the foetal position and laid flat, white others were brought out and paraded during festivals of the pre-Hispanic cultures.
