Mummies of six child victims of sacrifices discovered in Lima

Peruvian archaeologists found six pre-Inca mummies of infants, between 1,000 and 1,200 years old, who were buried in apparent sacrifice along with an important social figure in the ancient clay urban complex of Cajamarquilla, on the outskirts of Lima.

“The remains of six kids wrapped in funerary bundles near the tomb of an elite character (of the time)”whose mummy had already been found last November, told the AFP the archaeologist Pieter Van Dalen, responsible for the Cajamarquilla project.

“The kidsaccording to our working hypothesis, they would have been sacrificed to accompany the mummy on the way to the world of the dead”Van Dalen stresses.

next to the mummies of the six kidsthey also found skeletal remains of seven adults that, unlike the infants, were not wrapped in bundles.

The finding brought to 14 the total remains that researchers from the University of San Marcos have been discovering since November 2021.

“The kids they could be close relatives and were placed inside funerary wrappings made up of fabrics placed in various parts of the entrance to the tomb of the mummy (of the character), one on top of the other”detailed the researcher.

“The age of these mummies It would be between the year 800 to the year 1000 after Christ.he referred.

Bone remains of camelids, such as llamas, were also found at the site.

“Lord of Cajamarca”

The discovery occurred near the burial chamber of about three meters long and at a depth of 1.40 meters, where in November the mummy of who is now presumed to be an important person was found.

That character “achieved economic and social status, (and was) a possibly political authority” and we could even call him “Lord of Cajamarquilla”.

The mummy found at the end of November 2021 is of a male person who was possibly between 18 and 22 years old at the time of his death. She wore her face covered by her hands and was tied with ropes.

Cajamarquilla “was an urban center where multiple functions were developed”, with “administrative, domestic, residential” sectors, Van Dalen added.

Cajamarquilla is considered a pre-Hispanic mud city that could have housed between 10,000 and 20,000 people in a total of 167 hectares.

It was built around the year 200 BC and was occupied until the year 1500.

The city is located 24 km east of Lima and is one of the largest archaeological complexes in the Peruvian capital, a metropolis that today has 10 million inhabitants.