Archeologists working in Peru have unearthed six mummified children most likely sacrificed centuries ago to accompany a dead nobleman in the afterlife.
The discovery was made in a tomb in the Cajamarquilla archeological complex, approximately 24 kilometres east of Lima, according to the State University of San Marcos which is running the research and dig at the site.
In a press release translated from Spanish, the discovery is detailed as “six children wrapped in funerary bundles” as well as the remains of seven adults placed at the entrance of the tomb that held what is known as the Cajamarquilla mummy, whose remains were discovered last year entombed with his hands covering his face and tied up with rope.
Cajamarquilla was a large urban centre outside of what is now modern-day Lima, which was first settled by the Huari, according to the World Monuments Fund, whose culture flourished along the coast from 400 to 600 AD.
There are extensive remains of the city including brick houses and pyramids, which were later used by the Ychma and Inca who moved into the area in the second millennium and created a vast empire until the Spanish arrived in 1532.
According to archeologist and head of research in the region, Pieter Van Dalen, the remains found of the children and adults would be people who had a close relationship with the nobleman who was discovered last year.
“We think some of them could be the children, the wife and the closest servants of the Cajamarquilla mummy, who were sacrificed as party of the funerary rituals that rendered him an important character, whose soul had to be accompanied to cross the long road to hisxjmtzyw last resting place of world of the dead,” Van Dalen said in the release.
Objects found with the remains included earthenware and the remains of llama-like animals, and the mummies are thought to be 1,000 to 1,200 years old, according to the release.
All of the findings will be packed and transferred to the university for further testing and dating.
