TOMB TREASURE

Archaeologists Stunned by ‘Discovery of the Decade’

An untouched 600-year-old tomb was packed with bodies.

Archaeologists have uncovered an ancient mausoleum in Peru containing 38 bodies and scores of artifacts, in what one researcher called the “discovery of the decade.” The roughly 600-year-old tomb was found at Chan Chan, the former capital of the Chimú kingdom, where archaeologists had never before found an undisturbed elite burial chamber. The mausoleum remained sealed despite centuries of conquest and looting. Researchers made the discovery painstakingly, removing sand and debris from the entrance inch by inch. After clearing about 16 inches, they shone a flashlight inside and saw funerary bundles still intact. “In that moment we realized that the chamber had not been looted,” said Jorge Meneses, the archaeologist leading the excavation. The site has since yielded jewelry, weapons, heavy beads and a wooden chest containing colorful textiles decorated with seabirds and monkeys. Some remains also had red pigment on their bones, which researchers said may be the mineral cinnabar. Gabriel Prieto, an anthropology professor at the University of Florida who was not involved in the excavation, called it “the discovery of the decade,” saying it was the first time archaeologists had been able to examine an elite Chimú burial at Chan Chan. The excavation is ongoing, and researchers hope the tomb will shed new light on the Chimú and their encounters with the expanding Inca Empire.