1,200-Year-Old Remains Of Sacrificed Adults, Children Unearthed In Peru
NDTV
The remains were outside an underground tomb where the team from Peru's San Marcos University found in November an ancient mummy bound with ropes
Peruvian archaeologists have unearthed eight children and 12 adults apparently sacrificed around 800-1,200 years ago, they said on Tuesday, in a major dig at the pre-Incan Cajamarquilla complex east of Lima.
The remains were outside an underground tomb where the team from Peru's San Marcos University found in November an ancient mummy thought to be a VIP bound with ropes, in a fetal position.
Archaeologist Pieter Van Dalen said the bodies, some mummified and others skeletons, were wrapped in various layers of textiles as part of ancient pre-Hispanic ritual, and had likely been sacrificed to accompany the main mummy.
"For them, death was not the end, but rather a transition to a parallel world where the dead lived," Van Dalen told a news conference. "They thought that the souls of the dead became protectors of the living."
