Residents of a village on the outskirts of Lima and scientists discover a centuries-old cemetery - and try to save it, before the mummies are destroyed.
In the favela called Tupac Amaru, which sprawls across a vast area on the outskirts of Lima, children play in the millennia-old dust. Beneath your feet, preserved by the dry ground, is one of the largest Inca cemeteries ever found in Peru. This pre-Hispanic site, called Puruchuco-Huaquerones, dates from a time marked by Spanish colonization and known as the Late Horizon (1438-1532).
In the schoolyard alone, one of 15 areas examined in three years, we saved over 120 mummy bales (one bale contains one or more bodies wrapped in layers of fabric and cotton, along with with their personal objects), typical of Incan and pre-Incan burials.
The story of the Tupac Amaru favela is common in Peru. In 1989 about 340 families, fleeing the guerrillas in the mountains, settled in this area. Tricked by crooks, they believed that they would soon receive titles to their properties.
Meanwhile, 2 meters below ground, defenseless against the sudden flow of water and sewage from the new favela, the mummies began to decompose. Some favela residents dug up the mummies and burned them, trying to avoid an archaeological excavation that could delay the urbanization of the new settlement already under way.
Although the site suffered extensive damage in the following years, Peru's Instituto Nacional de Cultura (INC) eventually requested an archaeological assessment of the area. I arrived from Lima in 1999, bringing my tools and my team. To prevent the government from transferring them to other areas, the local residents (at the time more than 1240 families) decided to suspend the earthworks and even collect the money to help finance our work. With that, they hoped that the government would recognize the titles of land properties.
In three excavation stations we were able to remove, examine and photograph more than 2,200 individuals of all ages and social classes, buried over a period of 75 years. Puruchuco, with its 8 hectares, is the second largest cemetery ever excavated in Peru (the largest is Ancón). These cultural treasures will be displayed in a local museum in the future.
As we delve into the past, life in Tupac Amaru continues with its usual animation. Children play on the hallowed ground, running between ramparts of our excavations and spying on the grave of some ancient dead who "swallowed" his soccer ball. Some believe the spirits of the dead have caused a wave of illness here, including my stubborn cough. Even so, many say they are moved to see with their own eyes those who walked their lands in times past.
Secrets under the schoolyard
A villager prepares a large bundle of a never-before-disturbed mummy to be retrieved from the archaeological dig in the schoolyard. It took 4 men to lift the grave burden. The total weight is 175 kilos. In Spanish we call these bales fake, as they have an imitation head on top (of fabric with cotton filling). A feather ornament, a sign of the deceased's high status, remains attached to the head of a mummy found nearby. A copper star, unearthed south of the school, adorned a warrior's shield, made of bamboo and reeds. The people who helped to preserve these treasures the most were the people who buried them, sealing the graves with sand, gravel and pottery shards.
How to unwrap a mummy
A special mummy, wrapped in 135 kilos of raw cotton, earned the nickname "King of Cotton". In general, the Incas wrapped their nobles in strips of cloth. Weeks after discovering it, some team members continued to examine the stuffing, looking for any object that might be tangled up there. In the same bundle was a baby, probably a relative of the adult. When we took the child out, a hole was left in the stuffing. From the volume of the wrapper and the variety of objects found in the mummy, we can deduce that the adult and the baby belonged to the elite.
The Incas believed that souls kept in touch with the living and therefore took good care of the dead. The "King of Cotton" was buried along with various everyday objects (food, ceramics, corn to make chicha, a fermented drink). Other objects demonstrate his high position in society:the feathers of exotic birds on his headdress, which also served as a slingshot, and the club, which indicates that he was a mighty warrior. What most reveals its wealth, however, are the offerings of Spondylus-type oyster shells, imported from Ecuador. The man's pose, as well as the cotton filling, intrigues us. Instead of being in the fetal position typical of adults, he had his knees bent as if he were kneeling, and his toes pointed like a dancer. We don't know what that means.
DNA extracted from their bones should reveal whether the dead are father and son. We have already found up to seven bodies in the same package. This one contained only two.
The false head characterizes the bundles unearthed in Puruchuco. Some wore masks or wigs, but the fallen face was always left blank.
Ready for the beyond
The hands of the "King of Cotton" hold a piece of cloth, a shell and an acorn made of lime. To this day, the locals chew small pieces of lime along with coca to extract the stimulant from them. The mummy was cleaned, pictured and separated from the cotton wrapper and most of the 170 objects that accompanied it. Among them we find corn, peanuts, potatoes, beans and a calabash of lime powder; Tupus, or pins made of silver and copper; and a wooden comb and silver tweezers, already black with corrosion. A figure still graces the handle of a ceramic vase.
Fabrics for eternity
Peruvian weavers were masters of elegance. An elaborate headdress features imported bird feathers and fish designs, two ear flaps and a long sash that draped down the back, showing that it belonged to someone of high social standing.
Trivia
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