Peruvian archaeologists They found a pre-Hispanic mummy surrounded by coca leaves, on a hill in Lima, located next to a training ground for a professional soccer club.
An Associated Press team verified Thursday that the skeleton with long black hair was lying on its back, face up. His lower extremities were bound with a braided liana ropes of plant origin and a set of stones surrounded the mummy buried one meter from the surface of the top.
Miguel Aguilar, a professor of archeology at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos and an archaeologist from the Lima municipality of Rímac, said Thursday that the mummy was buried under a ritual that included leaves of coke and seashells. It was located on top of a destroyed “U” shaped mud temple, a feature of some prehispanic buildings. The mummy has not yet been subjected to radiocarbon dating to determine its age.
Pieter Van Dalen, a professor at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos and an expert in archeology of the Peruvian coast who is not involved in the project, said the rope that ties the lower extremities of the mummy is an example of the pattern of ceremonial contexts. He cited the case of another mummy found in another area of Lima, called Cajamarquilla, whose body was tied with vegetable ropes.
Aguilar, who is also manager of the Historical and Cultural Center of the Municipality of Rímac, said that old fly eggs were found next to the male skeleton, from which they deduce that the body was exposed for at least several days before being covered with earth. The municipality of Rímac is separated by a river of the same name from the oldest part of the capital.