11:08 | Chota (Cajamarca region), Sep. 6.
The recent find of "The tomb of the Priest dated to 3,000 years before the present" in the archaeological site of Pacopampa, located in the province of Chota (Cajamarca region), will contribute to better understand how authorities and power emerged through priestly elites, as well as the social complexity in the Peruvian Andes, mainly in northern highlands, during the Formative period of the country's history.
This information was revealed by archaeologist
Juan Pablo Villanueva, principal researcher of the
Project of Archaeological Investigation (PIA) Pacopampa, which began in 2005 thanks to an agreement between Lima-based San Marcos University and
Japan's National Museum of Ethnology.
"This is a systematic 18-year investigation in Pacopampa. It is a ceremonial complex from the Formative period and one of the largest ones in the northern highlands of Peru," the archaeologist said in an interview with Andina news agency.
"Since 2005, the Pacopampa Archaeological Project, which is developed within the framework of the agreement between San Marcos University and Japan's National Museum of Ethnology, has investigated the societies of this period and, above all, the emergence of authorities, power, and social complexity in the Andes, in general," he added.
3,000-year-old Pre-Inca priest
"The tomb of the Priest dated to 3,000 years before the present" is the name that the PIA Pacopampa investigation team chose for this peculiar individual, who is around 3,000 years old and is believed to be one of the first priestly leaders of temples in the region.
This ancient man was found in a funerary context, during investigation works undertaken since July 25 this year in an area called La Capilla (The Chapel), located 500 meters from the principal burial site called Pacopampa.
The tomb of the 3,000-year-old Priest includes a one-meter deep pit. It features a funerary context, which corresponds to the Pacopampa I phase.
In addition, the individual would have been buried around 1,200 BC.
The funerary context also includes small spherical bowls made of ceramic, as offerings, which, along with the body, were covered by six layers of ash mixed with black earth.
Stratigraphically speaking, the find follows that of the tomb of the Pututus Priest, discovered in 2022 also in Pacopampa, and occurred 500 years after the discovery of the Lady of Pacopampa tomb in 2009, as well as the tombs of the Serpent Jaguar Priests of Pacopampa, discovered in 2015 and dating from the period between 700 to 600 years BC., which contained offerings of gold, ceramics, and other artifacts.
(END) LZD/MAO/RMB/MVB
Publicado: 6/9/2023