Mummy Examination

Atwood, Roger, Stealing History: tomb raiders, smugglers and the looting of the ancient world, St. Martin's Press, New York, 2004. ISBN 0-312-32406-5.

Lord of Sipan

The Lord of Sipan is the tomb of an important leader of the pre-Inca civilization Moche, which was found by the Peruvian archeologist Walter Alva in 1987. According to several scientists, this tomb is the most important archeological discovery of America in the last 30 years. The tomb of the Lord of Sipan is the unique tomb of the Moche culture that has been found intact; since, most tombs of the region have been looted by thieves.

Tomb

The tomb was found in the Lambayeque region at north of the Peruvian coast. The place where the tomb was found is known as “Huaca Rajada” and is located to 35 Kilometers from the city of Chiclayo. The tomb was found within a complex composed by three pyramids made of adobe, one of which contained the mummy of the Lord of Sipan and his entourage.

Characteristics

This article discusses the tomb contained a great numbers of items made of gold, silver, copper and gems. All pieces were worked with mastery in metallurgy. The jewelry found in Sipan is the greatest evidence of the ability of the ancient Peruvian to work with metals. The collection of items of the Tomb of the Lord of Sipan includes around 400 jewels, amongst them: elaborate masks, necklaces, earrings and much other beautiful jewelry. In the tomb there had also many ceremonial utensils such as sea shells of the genera Spondylus and Conus, rattles, knives, amongst other.

Dragon Science (2009). Series: Scientific American Frontiers. Subject: Ancient History, Science. NC LIVEVIDEO.

The Mummy

The mummy was found inside a wooden sarcophagus and belonged to a man of 1.67 meters (5 feet 4 inches) tall approximately, who died when he was 35-45 years old. His clothing includes pectoral, helmets, ear rings, bracelets and falconry. One of the most impressive pieces of the tomb is his necklace whose right side is made of gold and its left side is made of silver, symbolizing the Sun and the Moon. Another amazing jewel that was found in the tomb, was a necklace composed by ten gold beads that depict a spider, in midst of which there is a human head.

History

The Moche culture ruled in the entire northern Peruvian coast, several centuries ago. In the IV century AD, Moche people buried one of their main leaders. Like all the important leaders of this civilization, this warlord was buried with his head pointing south and with his ears and nose covered with jewelry of gold, silver and gems.

Allison, Marvin J. (2005) Chile's Ancient Mummies. Natural History 94 (10):74-80

Lord of Sipan & Mummy

Next to the mummy of the dignitary, were found the bodies of eight people who are buried with the Lord, because of high rank that held the owner of the tomb. Archeologists believe that amongst these people were the wife and two concubines of the Lord of Sipan, a military commander, a ...