Peruvian archaeologists have discovered the mummy of a man who lived more than 3,000 years ago and who was wrapped in a funeral bundle. The remains were discovered in Lima (Peru), in the huaca “La Florida”, a sepulcher of the ancient inhabitants of the Andean region of Latin America, according to what municipal representatives published on Facebook.
Researchers from the Universidad Mayor de San Marcos found the pre-Hispanic remains, which had been buried surrounded by coca leaves, on top of a hill located in the Municipality of Rimac, one of the traditional districts of the Peruvian capital, next to the field of a professional soccer team.
The skeleton with long black hair was lying on its back with its lower extremities tied with a rope braided from vines of vegetable origin. A series of stones wrapped the mummy buried one meter deep. She had been buried following a pattern that included seashells, in addition to coca leaves.
The burial was located on a destroyed U-shaped clay temple, characteristic of some pre-Hispanic buildings. Although the remains have not yet been subjected to radiocarbon dating, some old fly eggs found next to the man’s bones suggest that the body was exposed for several days before being covered with earth, archaeologist Miguel Aguilar explained to the agency. PA.
The mummy probably belonged to the Manchay culture, which developed in the valleys of Lima between 1,500 and 1,000 BC, Aguilar added. This ancient society was probably associated with the construction of the U-shaped temples that pointed towards the sunrise.
The person “had been left or offered (as a sacrifice) during the last phase of the construction of this temple,” the archaeologist said. “And he is approximately 3,000 years old.” Experts dug up other items along with the body, including corn and seeds that they believe may have been part of an offering.
A team of excavators worked during the first months of this year collecting up to eight tons of garbage that covered the top of the hill, which is next to the training field and headquarters of the Sporting Cristal soccer club. The police also removed the homeless and drug addicts who are camping around the hill.
The hill, which has remains of ancient mud walls, was a “huaca”, a Quechua word that means oracle or sacred place. In total there are more than 400 huacas in Lima, according to the Peruvian Ministry of Culture, which makes it common for mummies and other pre-Hispanic remains to appear in unusual places in the city.
Workers and installers of natural gas or water lines have found embalmed bodies, sometimes of children, inside large clay pots. Recently, the case of a man who found three pre-Hispanic mummies in a hole in the patio of his house and kept them secret for a quarter of a century came to light.
