Excavating 1,000-year-old tomb of Moche civilization

Eleven Moche skeletons were found in a tomb in the archeological site of Huaca Santa Rosa de Pucala in Chiclayo region, northwestern Peru.

The tomb is in the archaeological site of Huaca Santa Rosa de Pucala.(Photo: Peruvian Ministry of Culture).

Two of the remains are children with mysterious symbols marked on the skull. One adult skeleton was found in a covered room and another was buried with a staff, suggesting that both had high social status and were more likely priests. The identities of the remaining people have not been determined.

According to Project Director Edgar Bracamonte from Peru's National University of Trujillo, most of the skeletons lost their feet. Archaeologists think they may have been cut during a religious ceremony."We need more research but it is clear that their feet were not there when they were buried ," Bracamonte said.

Most of the skeletons found were missing feet.(Photo: Peruvian Ministry of Culture).

The Huaca Santa Rosa de Pucala archaeological site is considered the center of Moche rituals. The remains buried in a large chamber are most likely of a religious leader. Besides the human skeletons, many ceramic items were also found inside the tomb.

Moche civilization flourished in northern Peru between 100 and 800 years. Historians say they do not have a political organization like a nation or an empire but instead a group of autonomous organizations with a common culture. The Moche developed a perfect agricultural society with a complex system of irrigation canals on the coast. This civilization is also famous for its massive structures such as palaces and pyramids.