PERU: Skeletal remains and mummies of over 70 children, including infants, are discovered by a team of archeologists at Pachacamac

Record ID: 572990

  • Title: PERU: Skeletal remains and mummies of over 70 children, including infants, are discovered by a team of archeologists at Pachacamac
  • Date: 28th May 2012
  • Summary: LIMA, PERU (RECENT) (YCHSMA PROJECT) VARIOUS STILL PHOTOS OF ARCHEOLOGISTS AT DIG OF BURIAL CHAMBER
  • Embargoed: 12th June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Peru
  • Country: Peru
  • Topics: History,Science
  • Reuters ID: LVA5INGOYT7VC2SSU7QUFFDFTC6R
  • Story Text: A team of archeologists working in Pachacamac discovered a one thousand year-old tomb with over 70 remains, many of them children.
    Photos of the discovery reveal cloth covered remains and skeletons uncovered by the team of archeologists working on site.
    "We found some 70 to 80 burials at this place we call One Hundred. The distribution of the burials in the east are defined as burial chambers," said archeologist Milton Lujan who was present when the discovery was made. "They are placed throughout the burial chamber in a special way."
    Many of the bodies are believed to be those of children who were seriously ill or had sustained life-threatening injuries.
    "The exact relationship (of the burial chamber) is with the "Painted Temple." Everyone wanted to be close to the place because it was a very special site to worship the gods. So, to go directly to the most sacred place they had to be close to it so they buried here in this place."
    Twenty miles (32 kilometers) south of Lima, the capital of modern-day Peru, Pachacamac was a holy city the Huari people used to pray to their God of Creation, Pacha Kamaq.
    The tomb is described to be a 60-foot-long, oval room with the bodies of 12 infants placed along the peripheral walls with their heads facing the center of the chamber. In the middle of the tomb archeologists found some 70 skeletal remains as well as mummies all placed in a fetal position and wrapped in cloth. The team of scientists also found offerings alongside the remains.
    "The recent finds here in the sanctuary of Pachacamac are associated with the cemetery of Uhle which is at the foot of the "Painted Temple," explained Denise Pozzi-Escot, Director of Museum at Pachacamac. "The pilgrims would arrive here to make their offerings but in other parts of the sanctuary other offerings have been found."
    The lead archeologist of the team is Peter Eeckhout of the Free University of Brussels whose team has been excavating at the site for 20 years looking for Inca artifacts.
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