Fragments of skin and clumps of hair. The mummy even preserved remains of teeth in the jaw. The teenager between the ages of 12 and 13 died around a thousand years ago in pre-Inca Peru and was buried inside a large grave that has been found on the outskirts of Lima, in the archaeological complex of Cajamarquilla.
Along with the embalmed body, the team from the University of San Marcos found a stone weapon, a plate, a copper needle, and remains of textiles, corn, and chili peppers. The burial about two meters deep was covered with a large rock between 800 and 1,200 years ago.
“The find is very important because it is very well preserved,” says archaeologist Yomira Huaman. The high salt content of the sand in this area probably caused a natural mummification of the adolescent, whose sex has not yet been determined.
Patches of skin remained on both the arms and legs, while hair was found on the head, which was separated from the body. This find joins the 20 mummies, including eight of children, that researchers discovered in Cajamarquilla in February 2022.
Cajamarquilla, in the Jicamarca Valley, was an important commercial center built with mud around 200 BC and occupied until around 1500. It is believed to have been home to between 10,000 and 20,000 people, being one of the largest largest cities of Ancient Peru.
Yomira Huamán’s team already made headlines around the world in 2021 when they found a mummy in perfect condition and its entire body was wrapped in cotton and tied with ropes. The man between 35 and 40 years old, who was called ‘El Señor de Cajamarquilla’ would have belonged to the upper class and died about 1,000 years ago.
The mummy was found in a fetal position, inside an oval underground funerary structure that had a platform on the north side and which was accessed by a seven-tier stairway.
During the Late Intermediate Period (1000-1450 AD), Cajamarquilla became a multi-ethnic commercial center in the Rimac River valley, where people of various nationalities resided, although mainly the local population (ichma) and chacllas, before the arrival of the Incas and the annexation of this territory to the Tawantinsuyo.
