Mummified Children, Likely Sacrificed Centuries Ago, Unearthed In Peru
NDTV
The children would have been sacrificed to accompany a dead nobleman to the underworld, said the archaeologist in charge of the dig in Peru, adding that the mummies were about 1,000 to 1,200 years old.
Six mummified children thought to have been sacrificed hundreds of years ago, apparently to accompany a dead nobleman to the afterlife, have been unearthed in a tomb near Lima, archaeologists reported.
The tiny skeletons, wrapped tightly in cloth, were found in the grave of an important man, possibly a political figure, discovered last November at the dig site of Cajamarquilla about 24 kilometers (15 miles) east of Lima.
"The children could be close relatives and were placed... in different parts of the entrance of the tomb of the (nobleman's) mummy, one on top of the other," archaeologist Pieter Van Dalen, in charge of the dig, told AFP.
