Ancient mummy discovered in Peruvian city

London, August 28 : The mummified remains of a woman, who died 500 years before the Incas, about 600-800 AD, have emerged from the rubble of an ancient tomb beneath the bustling streets of Lima, the capital of Peru.

According to a report in the Telegraph, archaeologists working at the Huaca Pucllana site in the Miraflores neighbourhood of Lima unearthed the mummy along with the remains of another two adults and a child.

Huaca Pucllana contains the ruins of an ancient plaza, a partially excavated mound of rocks, bricks and dirt.

So far, about 30 tombs have been unearthed there, but the new discovery was the most exciting.

The tombs are thought to belong to members of the Wari tribal culture, who lived and ruled in Peru from 600-800 AD.

The Wari had a capital near the modern city of Ayacuho in the Andes, but they developed an extensive road network and travelled across the whole region.

"We'd discovered other tombs before," said Isabel Flores, the director of the ruins. "But they always had holes, or were damaged. Never had we found a whole tomb like this one - intact," she added.

The mummy sat in a deep hole walled in with crumbling bricks. A pair of large blue eyes glared menacingly from its wooden face mask.

According to Miguel Angel, who was working with the archaeologists at the dig, "Her face startled me at first. I wasn't expecting to find anything like that."

The workers carefully covered the mummy in tissue paper before lifting it onto a wooden board.

Next to the mummy were an array of tools and other objects including ceramics and textiles.

ANI