Overview
- Peru’s Ministry of Culture and an all-Peruvian team of 98 archaeologists and workers announced this week the excavation of a nearly square funerary platform at the Utzh An complex in Chan Chan that contained 38 individuals.
- The platform measures about 17 meters per side and five meters high and includes a central chamber and two side chambers that yielded one principal burial and multiple bundled interments.
- Excavators recovered jewelry, metal weapons, heavy beads and a wooden chest with colorful textiles, details that point to high social status for the buried people.
- Some bones show a bright red pigment that must be tested in the laboratory to determine whether it is cinnabar, a mercury compound with ritual meaning and health risks.
- Teams are racing to complete analyses, begin conservation and close the area ahead of heavy seasonal rains in November, and researchers say the undisturbed find could reshape understanding of Chimú social hierarchy and contact with the Inca.