Mummies were once an essential part of ancient civilizations. They represented the dead person’s final moments before they left Earth and began a new life in the Afterlife. A mummy would have been wrapped in linen, resin, and other materials that kept the body fresh and protected against damp air. During this time, priests would perform rituals and other burial rites to prepare the tomb and the body for its journey into the Afterlife.
The mummy was probably an adolescent, and it may have belonged to the Lima or Ichma cultures that thrived in Peru between 800-1,200 years ago. It was found in an underground tomb wrapped in a funerary bundle, with ceramics and rope, including bits of skin and hair.
Adolescent mummies were often sacrificed during ancient Peru’s pre-Inca times when the dead were expected to be reborn into godly kings or queens. They were typically sacrificed for their heart, a sign of the person’s intelligence and the center of their being.
Once a mummy was prepared, the priests wrapped the body in long strips of linen cloth that stretched over it like a shroud. They then placed small amulets and prayers on the linen and sealed it with resin to prevent moisture from entering the body. The mummy was then buried in the tomb, along with otherworldly goods thought to assist in the Afterlife.
The mummification process had many stages, and all had to be done carefully. First, a mummy must be fully dehydrated, an important step to help prevent the spread of a fungus called Aspergillus niger, which can grow and infect a mummy’s internal organs.
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A mummy must also be wrapped in various fabrics, most of which were woven by the deceased’s family. These “mummy bundles” fabrics were created to honor the departed and could include intricate images of religious or everyday scenes or figures.
The mummy’s body was wrapped in the fabric, sometimes with each finger and toe wrapped separately before being encased in the entire length of the cloth. Finally, the mummy was placed in a wooden coffin, and the entrance was sealed.
Mummies were also wrapped in other materials that protected them from harm, including cords and braided lantana leaf rope. The mummies were then sealed in their tombs, remaining undisturbed for centuries.
They were usually buried at a place of worship or a pilgrimage site. However, at Huaca Pucllana, in Lima, Peru’s oldest tomb was discovered to contain an adult and three children, whose bodies had been carefully wrapped in layers of textiles and tied together with rope from the lantana plant.
Archaeologists also have discovered a 15-century-old mummy of a tattooed Moche woman who was interred with a dazzling collection of weapons and jewelry. Her burial bundle contained gilded copper-clad war clubs and finely crafted spear throwers, objects that had never been seen in a Moche mummy’s tomb before. The discovery has opened a window into how the Moche culture, which flourished on the Paracas Peninsula subtropical sand islands between 100 and 700 A.D., ruled over the Pacific Coast of what is now Peru.
