GAS workers have discovered a 1,000-year-old mummy just a metre below the surface of the Earth during a routine pipe installation in Peru.
The remains, believed to be a boy aged between 10 and 15-years-old, have been uncovered in surprisingly good condition, with some of his brown hair still intact.
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The burial was formal, with the trunk of a native huarango tree found next to the bound remains serving “as a tomb marker in the past,” according to archaeologist Jesus Bahamonde, a scientific coordinator of Calidda gas company.
The ancient boy’s remains were discovered “in a sitting position, with the arms and legs bent,” according to Bahamonde.
“The burial and the objects correspond to a style that developed between 1000 and 1200 [AD],” he added.
The body was found just 1.2metres beneath the Earth in Lima, Peru’s capital, while the wooden tomb marker was found just a depth of 50cm (20 inches).
They were wrapped in a shroud, which contained calabash gourds – a vegetable that was not only eaten but etched with intricate art in ancient Peru.
Calabash gourds are used for medicinal purposes in Peru, and throughout Bolivia and Ecuador today.
Though it’s unclear what the significance of the vegetable was at the time.
Ceramic objects, including plates, bottles and jugs decorated with geometric figures and figures of fishermen, were also found next to the mummy.
The mummy, found last week, belonged to a society of fishermen of the Chancay culture, which flourished between 1,000 and 1,470 AD, according to Jesús Bahamonde, director of the archaeological monitoring plan of metropolitan Lima at Cálidda.
Despite not being covered by much ground, the mummy had gone unnoticed for a millennia – even with all of the urban development in the area.
Lima, a city home to 10million people, housed human civilisations for thousands of years before the Spanish arrived in Peru in 1535.
As a result, there are more than 500 archaeological sites sprawled across the coastal city, including dozens of ancient cemeteries.
In Peru, utility companies must hire archaeologists when drilling because of the possibility of stumbling upon ancient treasures and heritage sites.
“It is very common to find archaeological remains on the Peruvian coast, including Lima, mainly funerary elements: tombs, burials, and, among these, mummified individuals,” Pieter Van Dalen, dean of the College of Archaeologists of Peru, told the Associated Press.
The desert heat dehydrates the bodies, naturally mummifying the bodies and leaving them fairly well preserved, according to Van Dalen, who was not involved in the discovery.
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