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1,300-Year-Old Mummy Found in Peru
Lima tomb pre-dates Incas
By Peter Fearon
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Posted Aug 27, 08 4:50 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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Archaeologists have discovered an ancient mummy in a tomb from a culture that flourished in Peru before the Incas. A complete female mummy, along with the remains of two other adults and a child, have been found in the Wari burial site in a residential district of Lima, Reuters reports. The site dates from about 700 AD. The Wari people ruled what is now Peru for some 500 years.
A mask on the mummy's face with piercing blue orbs "startled me at first. I wasn't expecting to find anything like that," said one of the workers who helped unearth the tomb. The director of the ruins said the find was unique. "We'd discovered other tombs before, but they were damaged," she said. "Never had we found a whole tomb like this one—intact."