by Lima, Peru (AP) supply worker who digs up the trenches to expand underground gas networks in Peru Capital, excavated two preincan graves on Thursday. One was empty, but the other held the 1,000-year-old remains of an individual together with four clay ships and three pumpkin bowl artifacts.
This is not the first time that Cálidda, the company that distributes natural gas in Lima, has found archaeological remains. In more than two decades of excavation work to expand the underground network, the company has made more than 2,200 discoveries.
According to the archaeologists José Aliaga, the iconography of the ships and their black, white and red colors enable “a connection to the culture in front of the Incan Chancay”, which is around 1,000 to 1,470 years old. “Aliaga told the Associated Press that the person was found in a torn bundle in a seated position with his legs against the chest, and his team will continue to clean the remains.
“Lima is unique in the Latin American capitals,” said Aliaga, “various archaeological finds are discovered in almost every office project.”
According to the Ministry of Culture, the Peruvian capital, a city with 10 million people, has more than 400 archaeological sites from the Inca era, the 15th century or earlier from the Inca.
On Thursday, Passby held out in her tracks to watch the grave, and even took out her cell phones to take a photo.
“I always thought they were ways where nobody had lived,” said Flor Prieto, who went with her 7-year-old daughter. “But now I know that people lived older than the Incas there … it feels so exciting.”
“It is very common to find archaeological remains on the Peruvian coast, including Lima, mainly grave: graves, burials and among these mummified persons,” said Pieter van Dalen, Dean of the College of Archaeologists from Peru. Van Dalen was not involved in the discovery on Thursday.
____
Follow APS reporting on Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
