1,200-year old mausoleum with 63 bodies found in Peru

Lima, June 29 (IANS/EFE) A team of Polish and Peruvian archaeologists found 63 bodies in a 1,200-years old pre-Inca mausoleum in Peru's northern Ancash region.

According to researchers, 57 of the bodies were noblewomen of the Wari culture, who were buried in funerary bundles with more than 1,200 objects of gold, silver, bronze, bone, wood, textile, ceramic and gourd.

Among the objects were earflaps, pots, spoons, knives and ceremonial vases.

The other six bodies are thought to have been ritually sacrificed and thrown upon the bundles to close the funerary chamber, which was then covered with some 33 tonnes of small stones, the daily El Comercio said.

The discovery was made in an area called Castillo de Huarmey, a place far from the center of Wari culture, which was in the southern region of Ayacucho.

In 2014, the Lima Museum of Art will exhibit the newly discovered objects in Castillo de Huarmey, thanks to the sponsorship of Antamina and the culture ministry.

--IANS/EFE

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