Dozens of mummies of children and newborns found in Peru: scientists are puzzled

“It is difficult to give an unambiguous interpretation of this find.”

Archaeologists discovered 22 mummies in Peru, wrapped in bundles, mostly children and newborns.

Photo: AP

Mummified burials of 22 people, mostly small children and newborn babies, have been discovered in the Peruvian city of Barranca by a group of Polish-Peruvian scientists. In addition to the fabrics used to wrap the bodies of the dead, pottery, tools and food remains were also found.

According to Arkeonews, the archaeological site where the discovery was made is located in Peru, on the outskirts of the city of Barranca on the Cerro Colorado hill in the Pativilca Valley. This place has been known to researchers for several decades. It currently consists of four mounds that cover pre-Columbian structures. However, the time of their creation and functions remained unknown.

In 2022, a team of archaeologists from Peru and Poland, operating within the framework of the research program of the Los Valles de Barranca group, began a new research project. Its leader is the Peruvian archaeologist Plinio Guillen Alarcon, and its co-founder and member – Krakow bioarchaeologist Lukasz Majcszak. Students from the Jagiellonian University and the University of St. Marks in Lima took part in the excavations.

Last year, scientists determined that the complex's origins date back to the second half of the 19th century BC. At the top of the highest mound, they discovered ruined burials from the 3rd millennium BC.

This year's work, which uncovered 22 intact burials, was carried out as part of a research project funded by the National Academic Exchange Agency . The team's work is led by Dr. Justyna Marczewka-Dlugonska from Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University.

“These are bodies wrapped in fabrics and plant material, which in archeology we call funerary bundles. When examining human remains, between the layers of these tissues we find ceramics, tools and religious objects”, – says bioarchaeologist Lukasz Majczak.

Six of the discovered burial bundles belonged to adults, and the remaining 16, located at some distance, belonged to children, most likely of different ages.

“Until recently, high infant mortality was the norm, especially when the child was weaned. This is not always reflected in archaeological materials, because children were not always buried equally with adults, but often there were more of them than adults, – Łukasz Majcszak comments.

As he describes, the children's remains are located at the same depth, at the height of the heads of the deceased adults. All of them are in a horizontal position, while the bodies of adults are in the fetal position, their upper and lower limbs tucked under the chest. These bodies are positioned vertically, making them appear to be sitting. They all have a similar appearance: wrapped in thick fabric and braided with ropes.

“At the moment, it is difficult to give an unambiguous interpretation of this find. It is possible that the entire community simply buried their children in this place. What is still puzzling is the fact that these are clearly children no older than 2 years old (judging by the length of the bundles), some of them are definitely newborns or infants. It is possible that for some reason the older children were buried in other parts of the cemetery”, – Łukasz Majcszak is perplexed.

So far, the team has only explored an area of ​​20 square meters. Scientists unwrapped one child's bundle in which the newborn was buried.

– We scanned two more bundles, so we know that one of the children was a little older, and the other was also a newborn, – described by a bioarchaeologist.

The fabric of one of the bundles is decorated with geometric patterns. The remaining bundles, as Majcszak suggests, may contain images of animals and gods. The materials in which the dead were wrapped were supposed to be useful in the afterlife.

“In the Andean after-death vision, a person travels for a year until he reaches his destination. That's why he needs food. In several bundles we even found corn cobs and other unidentified plant materials.

However, as for the Andean burials, there were few vessels, 4-5 for each bundle, the researcher describes.

Scientists will analyze subsequent burial bundles, which scientists tentatively date to 1000-1100 AD. These preliminary findings will be confirmed by radiocarbon dating.

Researchers will use computed tomography to examine the burial bundles, which are completely preserved and free of visible damage. This will allow for non-invasive anthropological analysis. In further stages they plan to conduct chemical analyzes and isotope analysis, including a strontium isotope, which will clarify whether we are dealing with a local population.