Archaeologists announced Thursday the discovery of the remains of a woman who lived approximately 5,000 years ago and is believed to have belonged to the elite of the Caral civilization, one of the oldest civilizations in the world, which settled in northern Peru. The discovery is of particular interest to scientists because it suggests that women held prominent roles within Caral culture, said David Palomino, director of the research team responsible for the find, during a press briefing.
The mummy was found in December in the ancient fishing city of Áspero, which had served for years as a garbage dump before being declared an archaeological site. Palomino presented a video and photographs showing the woman’s well-preserved remains, along with part of her funerary offerings.
“What has been revealed corresponds to a woman who appears to have had high status, likely a woman of the elite,” Palomino said following a presentation in Lima. He highlighted that the mummy “has preserved her skin, part of her nails, her hair, and the wrappings.”
The burial site was found at the Huaca de los Ídolos, as part of the archaeological exploration led since 1996 by Peruvian archaeologist Ruth Shady. Preliminary bioanthropological analysis indicates that the remains belong to a woman between 20 and 35 years old, approximately 1.5 meters (about 4 feet 11 inches) tall, who wore a headdress that likely represented her high status.
The body was wrapped in several layers of different textiles and covered with “a cloak of macaw feathers,” a bird native to the Amazon, Palomino said. Alongside the woman, archaeologists found a funerary collection of small objects, including a toucan beak, a stone bowl, and a straw basket, which were displayed Thursday at the Ministry of Culture’s headquarters in Lima.
Developed between 3000 and 1800 BC, the Caral civilization is considered the mother culture of the Americas. It is located in the Supe Valley, 182 kilometers north of Lima and about 20 kilometers from the Pacific Ocean. Caral was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009.
