by Peruvian utility workers recently found a 1,000-year-old mummy while installing pipes in Lima, said their company, which confirmed the last discovery of a pre-Spanish grave in the capital.
The workers found the trunk of a Huarango tree (a species from Peru on the coast), “which in the past served as a burial marker,” archaeologist Jesus Bahamonde, scientific coordinator of Calidda Utility Company, told reporters.
The mummy of a boy between 10 and 15 years old was found at a depth of 20 inches, he added.
“The funeral and the objects correspond to a style that developed between 1000 and 1200,” he said.
The remains discovered on Monday were found “in a sitting position, with the arms and legs bent,” said Bahamonde.
Experts work on the remains of a pre-Spanish funeral found during an excavation to install a gas pipeline in Lima on 19 June 2025. / Credit: Ernesto Benavides / AFP via Getty Images
They were found in a shroud that also contained Kalebaskale bases.
Ceramic objects, including plates, bottles and jugs decorated with geometric figures and figures of fishermen, were found next to the mummy.
The grave and the artifacts belong to the pre-Ininca Chancay culture, which lived in the Lima area between the 11th and 15th centuries.
They were discovered while gas employees removed the earth from a road in the Puente Piedra district in North Lima.
Jose Aliaga, an archaeologist with Nut Cálidda, said that the excavated mummy still has dark brown hair.
“We found remains and evidence that there could be a pre-Spanish funeral,” said Aliaga.
An expert holds a piece while working around the remains of a pre-Spanish funeral found during an excavation to install a gas pipeline in Lima on 19 June 2025. / Credit: Ernesto Benavides / AFP via Getty Images
In Peru, utilities must hire archaeologists when drilling the earth, because of the possibility of touching heritage sites.
Calidda has made more than 2,200 archaeological finds since 2004.
Lima is the home of more than 500 archaeological locations, including dozens of “Huacas”, because old cemeteries are known in the native Quechua language.
“It is very common to find archaeological remains on the Peruvian coast, including Lima, mainly funeral elements: graves, funerals and, under these, mummified individuals,” said Pieter van Dalen, dean of the College of Archeologists or Peru.
Van Dalen, who is not involved in the discovery, said that mummies on the Peruvian coast are usually found in a natural way, usually in desert areas, with the skin dried out by the summer heat. He explained that other excavated remains have undergone mummification procedures for cultural reasons and are usually discovered in a sitting position with their hands covering their faces.
In April, archaeologists in Peru announced that they 5,000 year old remains of a noble woman In the holy city of Caral, in an area that was used as a garbage dump for decades.
Only a few days earlier, researchers who carry out excavation work in South Perpu found an old grave filled with the Remains of two dozen people believed as fighting victims.
The Associated Press has contributed to this report.
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