The archaeologists of Peru announced that they had found the remains of 5,000 years of a noble in the sacred city of Caral, in an area which for decades was used as a discharge. The new discovery revealed the important role played by women in the oldest civilization center in the Americas, researchers said.
“What was discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had a high status, an elite woman,” said archaeologist David Palomino.
The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site in the city of Caral which was a dumping ground for more than 30 years until the archaeological site in the 1990s.
Palomino said that carefully preserved remains, dating back 3,000 years before JC, contained skin, part of the nails and hair and were wrapped in a shroud made of several layers of fabric and a coat of macaw feathers. Macaws are colorful birds that belong to the parrot family.
The woman’s funeral trousseau, which was presented to journalists from the Ministry of Culture, included a toucan beak, a stone bowl and a basket of straw.
Ministry of Culture of Peru
“This is an exceptional burial due to the preservation of skin, hair and nails, a rare condition in this area, where generally only skeletal remains are recovered,” said the Ministry of Culture of Peru said in a press release.
The preliminary analyzes indicate that the remains found in December belong to a woman aged 20 to 35 who was about 5 feet high and wore a hairstyle – made with bundles of twisted threads – which represented her high social status.
Palomino told journalists that the discovery showed that even if “it was generally thought that leaders were men, or that they had more important roles in society” women “had played a very important role in carale civilization”.
Caral Society developed between 3000 and 1800 BC, almost at the same time as other major cultures in Mesopotamia, Egypt and China.
The city is located in the fertile Supe Valley, about 115 miles north of Lima and 12 miles from the Pacific Ocean.
The United Nations World Heritage Site in 2009 was declared.
The Ministry of Culture said that the discovery follows other elite burials found in Áspero, including the “Lady of the Four Tupus” in 2016 and the “elite male” in 2019).
Earlier this month, researchers carrying out excavation work in southern Peru found an old tomb filled with remains of two dozen people Considered victims of combat.
