San Marcos University has presented the Mummy of Cajamarquilla —the body of a person of pre-Hispanic origin aged 18-22 years found by San Marcos archaeologists in Cajamarquilla, an archaeological site located in the district of Lurigancho-Chosica, 25 kilometers from downtown Lima.
The presentation took place during a special ceremony on Tuesday.
The Mummy of Cajamarquilla will be given a special place at Casona Real —a historic venue at San Marcos University. The place will also house the funerary contexts and artifacts that have been and will be found in Cajamarquilla.
Yomira Huaman, a graduate of archeology who discovered the mummy, confirmed that the skeletal remains were found inside a burial chamber about 3 meters long and 1.40 meters deep —a space accessed via a small staircase.
"When we arrived from Huaral, we devoted our time to working in Cajamarquilla and the discovery of the funerary context took place in the eighth of ten excavation units that we set up. It was difficult to remove the mummy. It took us two or three days to do so, and we wanted it to remain intact," she pointed out.
After confirming that the mummy would be between 800 and 1,200 years old, Huaman affirmed that this discovery confirms that Cajamarquilla was an important site for ancient Peruvians.
"It was a great commercial emporium, as
Dr. Ruth Shady (discoverer of the city of Caral) would say," she remarked.
The researcher revealed that other baled funeral contexts were found at the site, including those of a girl and another person.
"We want to continue researching in Cajamarquilla and contribute to archeology," she said.
(END) MAO/RMB/MVB
Published: 12/8/2021