Mummies Buried at Ancient Temple Site Discovered in Peru

News November 27, 2023

SHARE:

LIMA, PERU—According to a Reuters report, the mummified remains of four children and an adult thought to have died some 1,000 years ago during the Ychsma period have been unearthed in Lima. The well-preserved mummies were found, along with some pottery, at the base of a staircase that was part of a hilltop temple dated to about 3,500 years ago. “This whole area is a very important ceremonial chamber,” said archaeologist Luis Takuda of Lima’s Rimac District. “The people who lived here during the Ychsma period still considered it a sacred space and therefore buried their dead here,” he explained. For more, go to "Peru's Mysterious Infant Burials."

  • Features September/October 2023

    Ukraine's Lost Capital

    In 1708, Peter the Great destroyed Baturyn, a bastion of Cossack independence and culture

    Read Article
    (Leonid Andronov/Alamy Stock Photo)
  • Letter from Vesuvius September/October 2023

    Digging on the Dark Side of the Volcano

    Survivors of the infamous disaster rebuilt their lives on the ashes of the A.D. 79 eruption

    Read Article
    (Courtesy Girolamo Ferdinando De Simone)
  • Artifacts September/October 2023

    Padlock

    Read Article
    (Courtesy James Davidson)
  • Digs & Discoveries September/October 2023

    Nose to Tail

    Read Article
    (Lisa See collection. The Huntington Library, San Marino, California)