In Peru, four mummified children, estimated to be over 1,000 years old, have been unearthed in what is now considered one of Lima’s oldest neighborhoods, with their skulls still having hair on them! The discovery took place in a sacred ceremonial site at Huaca La Florida, Lima, with images and footage of the find captured. Researchers suggest that these children belonged to the Ychsma culture, a pre-Inca civilization that inhabited the central coast of Peru, particularly in the Lima region. This culture flourished between approximately 1000 and 1400 AD.
Unearthing a Ceremonial Atrium: Hair and Skulls Combine
Alongside the mummies, an adult’s remains were discovered near a small hill featuring a staircase that potentially led to a concealed temple, believed to be around 3,500 years old. Three of the mummies were wrapped in textiles, while the remaining two were found as skeletons, with the aforementioned hair still present on their skulls. The archaeologists speculate it was likely that these mummies were natural burials, rather than human sacrifices.
The skeletal remains were discovered on the stairway of an adobe temple shaped like a “U,” a distinctive architectural element in pre-Inca constructions.
The mummies were discovered on a stairway of the Huaca pyramid. (Peru Ministry of Culture)
“What we see here is that the whole area where we are now was a ceremonial atrium,” said Luis Takuda, an archaeologist who is leading the Huaca La Florida research project, according to Reuters. “It was…
