A pre-Hispanic mummy, estimated to be between 600 and 800 years old, was found inside the backpack of a delivery man in Peru’s Puno region, official sources reported on Monday.
The remains, classified as a national cultural asset of the country, were identified as those of a mummified adult man presumably from the eastern area of Puno, which is adjacent to Bolivia, the
Peruvian Ministry of Culture said in a statement on Monday.
Ministry sources told EFE that the individual would be over 45 years old and have an approximate height of 1.51 meters, according to preliminary investigations.
They added that the Decentralized Directorate of Culture of Puno "verified the authenticity of the pre-Hispanic cultural property" with a chronology of approximately 600 and 800 years.
After the discovery, the ministry immediately ordered the custody of the remains in order to protect and preserve the (country's) heritage.
Relevant departments are taking the necessary steps for the physical and legal protection of the mummy.
According to local media reports, the discovery was made on Saturday at a viewpoint in Puno, where police agents were conducting their usual patrol and found three men consuming alcohol.
One of the men had a delivery backpack belonging to the company "Pedidos Ya."
Inside it, the agents found human remains in the fetal position and soft tissues with characteristics of a mummy.
They reported the discovery to the Public and the Culture Ministries.
The delivery man said that he kept the mummy in his parents' house and took it out to show it to his friends in the neighborhood, El Comercio newspaper reported.
In view of these events, the ministry has urged the public to "actively collaborate in the defense and protection" of cultural heritage and to report similar findings to the authorities.