28 October 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

73 intact Wari mummy bundles and Carved Masks Placed On False Heads Discovered In Peru

At Pachacámac, an archaeological site southeast of Lima in Peru, archaeologists unearthed bundles of 73 intact mummy bundles, some containing “false-heads” masks made of wood or ceramics.

The site of the find is an extensive complex of cemeteries from different periods at the foot of the Painted Temple. Nearby, wooden staff with images of dignitaries of the Wari Empire were also discovered.

The Wari culture belongs to the most important prehistorical cultures of Peru. It developed in the mountainous valley of Ayacucho in Central Peru based on local traditions and the influences carried by the Tiwanaku culture that flourished in the altiplano of Bolivia.

The finds date to the latter part of the Middle Horizon, between 800-1100 AD, corresponding to the expansion period of the Wari Empire’s reign.

The discovery was made by a team of archaeologists from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, led by Professor Krzysztof Makowski at Pachacámac, south of Lima (Peru).



📣 Our WhatsApp channel is now LIVE! Stay up-to-date with the latest news and updates, just click here to follow us on WhatsApp and never miss a thing!!



Photo: Miłosz Giersz – CC BY-SA 4.0

The cemetery complex was first discovered in the late 19th century by German archaeologist Max Uhle. They had been widely damaged in the “extirpation of the idolatries” during the colonial period and would be repeatedly looted after Uhle’s excavation. The discovery of 73 undamaged burials is therefore of great archaeological significance.

Professor Makowski’s team, consisting of Cynthia Vargas, Doménico Villavicencio, and Ana Fernández, purposefully focused their research on a site where a tall wall that was constructed during the Inca and colonial periods had collapsed. It had been assumed that the piles of adobe bricks would have made it difficult for robbers to access the graves. This turned out to be accurate.

The discovery of a well-preserved assemblage of individual and group burials with dates precisely to the second half of the Middle Horizon.

In addition to the burial discoveries, archaeologists stumbled upon two wooden staffs near the cemetery within the remnants of a nearby settlement. These staffs were found in a deposit of “thorny oyster” ( Spondylus princeps) shells, believed to have been imported from present-day Ecuador, situated to the north of the Wari Empire.

Staff carved in wood with depictions of two figures of the Wari Empire (800-1,100 AD). Photo: © M.Giersz, ed. K. Kowalewski/CC BY-SA 4.0
Staff carved in wood with depictions of two figures of the Wari Empire (800-1,100 AD). Photo: © M.Giersz, ed. K. Kowalewski/CC BY-SA 4.0

The carved iconography on these staffs potentially suggests that the inhabitants of Pachacámac had established some form of contact with individuals from the Tiwanaku kingdom. The Tiwanaku kingdom, positioned to the south of the Wari Empire, spanned the present-day regions of Peru, Bolivia, and Chile – an indicator of ancient trade routes and cultural exchanges.

The wooden staffs depict dignitaries donning headgear reminiscent of the styles worn in the Tiwanaku kingdom. The shared elements in the headgear design along with the stylistic similarities make these finds historically and culturally unique, according to Archeowiesci blog.

The team’s findings contradict the previous understanding of Pachacámac history. It was not, as historians have posited, a sacred city from the construction of the Old Temple during by the Lima culture ca. 200 A.D. through the arrival of the Spanish. During the Wari Empire, it was not the monumental sacred site that was one of the most important in the central Andes. That only happened after it was absorbed in the Inca Empire.

North-South profile at cemetery 1 in Pachacamac (Peru), the surface of which was partially disturbed by a wall from the Inca period, rebuilt in the early Colonial period. Photo: © PUCP Archaeology Program “Valley of Pachacamac”, ed. K. Kowalewski/CC BY-SA 4.0
North-South profile at cemetery 1 in Pachacamac (Peru), the surface of which was partially disturbed by a wall from the Inca period, rebuilt in the early Colonial period. Photo: © PUCP Archaeology Program “Valley of Pachacamac”, ed. K. Kowalewski/CC BY-SA 4.0

Due to the state of preservation and the precision of the documentation of the context of the finds at the time of excavation, as well as the laboratory analyses, the burial assemblages uncovered are a veritable goldmine of information on the social position of men, women and children according to kinship ties, the care of invalids, indicators of war and domestic violence.

Nineteen of the bundles, with their lower part preserved and an intact structure, could be transferred to the laboratory in their entirety in order to document them three-dimensionally using CT scanning without having to be opened. Their contents will be analysed on a computer screen by bioarchaeologists Professor Dr. Andrew Nelson and Dr. Lucía Watson.

Cover image: Carved wood mask on the so-called “false head” of a burial tomb, Pachacámac, Peru. Photo: PUCP Archaeology Program “Valley of Pachacámac”, published under CC BY-SA 4.0

Related Articles

Evidence of a 1500-year-old Byzantine church found on the beach of Ashdod, Israel

22 February 2022

22 February 2022

Recent rain in Israel has unearthed the remains of a marble pillar dating to around 1,500 years ago on a...

3500-year-old mysterious hieroglyphs discovered in Yerkapı Tunnel in Hattusa deciphered

12 October 2023

12 October 2023

Some of the Anatolian hieroglyphs discovered last year in the Yerkapı Tunnel in Hattusa, the former capital of the Hittite...

Oldest Aboriginal pottery discovered in Far North Queensland

10 April 2024

10 April 2024

More than 2000 years ago, Aboriginal Australians were producing ceramics on a secluded island about 35 kilometers off the coast...

Saxony’s Oldest Gold Coin Unearthed in Leipzig: A 2,200-Year-Old Celtic Masterpiece

28 October 2025

28 October 2025

A small yet extraordinary discovery has rewritten Saxony’s numismatic history. A certified hobby detectorist, Daniel Fest, uncovered what is now...

An Elite Nubian Woman’s Burial, Dating Back 4,000 Years, Reveals the Oldest Evidence of Tumpline Use

15 April 2025

15 April 2025

A recent study analyzing 30 ancient skeletons from the Abu Fatima cemetery in Nubia, Sudan, has revealed that women in...

Archaeologists Unearth First-Ever Assyrian Inscription in Jerusalem — A 2,700-Year-Old Message Between Kings

23 October 2025

23 October 2025

Archaeologists in Jerusalem have uncovered a discovery of extraordinary significance: a tiny, 2,700-year-old pottery fragment inscribed in Assyrian cuneiform —...

Tang-e Chogan bas-relief carvings, Majestic treasures of Sassanid art, are under threat of destruction 

9 March 2022

9 March 2022

Treasures of Sassanid art, some of Tang-e Chogan’s bas-reliefs are under threat of complete destruction due to lack of maintenance...

Archaeologists Uncover 4,800-Year-Old Bronze Age Tombs in Başur Höyük, Türkiye, Where Teenage Girls Were Ritually Sacrificed

30 March 2025

30 March 2025

As the first civilizations began to emerge in Mesopotamia and Anatolia, significant transformations in social structure, economy, and culture took...

Man-made Viking-era cave discovered in Iceland Bigger, Older Than Previously Thought

2 June 2022

2 June 2022

Archaeologists from the Archaeological Institute of Iceland have uncovered an extensive system of interconnected structures that are not only much...

Researchers find 3,000-year-old shark attack victim in Japan

24 June 2021

24 June 2021

In a paper published today, Oxford-led researchers reveal their discovery of a 3,000-year-old victim—attacked by a shark in the Seto...

Antikythera underwater excavation digs up new discoveries “huge marble head”

20 June 2022

20 June 2022

The second phase of underwater archaeological research (May 23 to June 15, 2022) on the Antikythera shipwreck resulted in the...

Oldest Evidence of Head Shaping in Europe Discovered in Italian Cave

11 August 2025

11 August 2025

Archaeologists have uncovered the earliest known case of artificial cranial modification (ACM – deliberate head shaping) on the continent, dating...

Volunteer archaeologists discovered a 1900-year-old silver military decoration in Vindolanda

17 June 2023

17 June 2023

Volunteer archaeologists have discovered a 1900-year-old military decoration (Phalera) that was awarded to distinguished soldiers and troops in the Roman...

Netherlands’s unique treasure finds of medieval gold jewelry and silver coins

12 March 2023

12 March 2023

The Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (the National Museum of Antiquities) in the Netherlands has announced that a unique treasure of 1000-year-old...

Unique semi-mummified body tomb discovered in Pompeii

17 August 2021

17 August 2021

A semi-mummified skeleton was discovered in the Porta Sarno necropolis, which is located east of Pompeii’s city center and is...