A Surprising Mummy of A Woman Warrior Was Found in Peru

Archeologists have found an exquisitely preserved and elaborately tattooed mummy of a young woman inside a mud-brick pyramid in northern Peru. The mummy belongs to the Moche culture, which occupied Peru's northern coastal valleys from about A.D. 100 to 800.

"We have an entire repertoire of a very high status tomb, preserved perfectly," said John Verano, an anthropologist at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, who is part of the research team. "It's as if she was wrapped up yesterday - no information has been lost."

Although the area, known as El Brujo, had been scoured by grave-robbers for centuries, the newly found funerary chamber remained sealed since around A.D. 450. The tomb lay near the top of a crumbling pyramid called Huaca Cao Viejo, a ruin near the town of Trujillo that has been well known since colonial times.

"The tomb was a rectangular chamber, sealed under many meters of adobe brick," said Verano. "There was a very large cotton bundle with a large embroidered face, a cane mat on top, and a pillow underneath, and a skeleton lying beside it that was a sacrifice made to accompany her to the afterlife. I took the sacrifice out [of the tomb]. The excavation team built a very large frame and lifted the mummy out by hand and carried it down the hill to the laboratory."

The mummy has intricate tattoos distinct from others of the Moche culture covering much of her arms, legs, and feet and it's accompanied by a rich array of funeral objects, from gold sewing needles and weaving tools to masterfully worked gold, copper, and silver necklaces, nose ornaments, and earrings.

However, what most surprised the archeologists was that the grave also contained numerous weapons, including two massive war clubs and 23 spear throwers. "The war clubs are clear symbols not only of combat but of power," said Verano. Archeologists have never found a woman buried with weapons before.

"Perhaps she was a female warrior, or maybe the war clubs and spear throwers were symbols of power that were funeral gifts from men,'' Verano said. All the weapons are "very similar, as if they might have come from a single workshop. Maybe they were carried by her entourage at the time of her death."