On Monday, researchers in Peru discovered a more than 1,000-year-old mummy on the outskirts of the contemporary city, the latest discovery going back to pre-Inca times.
The mummy, discovered in an underground tomb wrapped in a burial bundle with ceramics and rope and fragments of skin and hair was most likely a teenager.
The young woman who had been mummified was discovered in a "good state of conservation," according to archaeologist Yomira Huaman, who is in charge of the Cajamarquilla research project and is connected to the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, as per Reuters.
The adolescent may have been a member of the Lima or Ichma cultures and lived between 1,100 and 1,200 years ago. Approximately 200 meters (220 yards) from the location of the initial Cajamarquilla mummy's discovery, according to Huaman, referring to a different mummy recovered close the previous year.
The remains of eight children and twelve adults, ostensibly sacrificed between 800 and 1,200 years ago, were also discovered at the archaeological site.
Four pyramid ruins can be found in the vast Cajamarquilla complex and other buildings, including maze-like walls. The complex is Peru's second-largest mud-brick city after Chan Chan in the Andean northern region.
Huaman speculated that inhabitants of Cajamarquilla may have come from both the shore and the Andean highlands. The site, which was thought to be a booming commerce hub, was situated in a dusty area some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Lima.
Mummification in Peru
Beginning more than 7,000 years ago, several societies in what is now Peru practiced mummification, which gave the living a way to remember and stay connected to the dead. Mummies were sometimes kept as pets or brought to celebrations. Others left food or drink offerings at the graves of their loved ones.
According to the American Museum of Natural History, thousands of years before the Egyptians, the Chinchorro people of what is now Peru and Chile were the first to use mummification. The prepared mummies were painted black or red and given wigs by the Chinchorro. One of the final actions in the procedure would have been the creation of a mask. The sculptor coated the dead person's skull in clay, then fashioned a nose, eyes, and mouth before allowing it to dry. Due to the fragility of unbaked clay used to create the masks below, they rarely made it through the centuries intact.
