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Probable Pre-Hispanic Mummy Found in Cusco Dump Under Trafficking Investigation

Cultural authorities have custody for laboratory analysis, with police reviewing security footage to identify who abandoned the remains.

Overview

  • Municipal cleaning workers in Alto Qosqo, San Sebastián, discovered human remains inside a cardboard box wrapped in a sack at a public dump.
  • Specialists from the regional Culture office reported a skull, additional bones and elements consistent with a funerary bundle from a pre-Hispanic context.
  • An expert noted the skull shows signs of specialized manipulation and suggested a likely extraction from the Urcos area, pending laboratory dating.
  • The Public Prosecutor opened a case into illicit possession and abandonment of cultural property, a crime punishable by four to ten years in prison.
  • The bundle was transferred to the DDC Cusco’s physical anthropology unit for noninvasive studies, while the National Police search nearby CCTV to find who dumped it.