Tomb Discovered in Peru Where Early People Worshiped Dead (VIDEO)
A tomb excavated in secret over the past few months has been uncovered in Peru with the remains of three former Queens and a trove of treasure.
An archeological digging site pegged the "Temple of the Dead" was uncovered in Peru on Thursday. Given the official name of El Castillo de Huarmey, (the Castle on the River Huarmey), the area is believed to be a burial site for female royalty during the reign of the Wari. An estimated 1,200 years old, the un-looted tomb site is a rare find according to experts.
"To find an unlooted tomb like this one is a big deal," archaeologist Christina Conlee of Texas State University in San Marcos said during an interview with USA Today.
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"I was really very, very surprised to find the site unlooted," search team leader Milosz Giersz of Poland's University of Warsaw, said.
Funded by the National Geographic Society, the search team has been digging quietly for months to avoid looters accessing the tomb. Discovered some 30,000 tons of gravel below was a tomb that appears to have been designated for female royalty. The bodies of three female rulers were uncovered, buried in separate chambers, in addition to 53 females buried in rows. At least a half dozen of those female bodies were likely human sacrifices for the royalty, according to USA Today. 1,200 artifacts were also found amongst the bodies, including gold, silver, and jewelry.
"Unusual and rare, we don't see female high-status rulers in the art of the Wari very often," Conlee noted.
Reigning before the Inca, the discovery suggests the Wari developed many of the customs that were later adapted by the Inca including ancestral worship. Outside the burial chambers of the female rulers was a stone throne that researcher believed the Wari used to worship the females after death.
"We are now seeing here the Wari set the pattern for the Inca who came later, with evidence both of empire-building and an ancestor cult," Giersz explained. His hope is that the burial site will one day become a public museum.
