A pre-Hispanic mummy aged between 600 and 800 years was found inside the backpack of a delivery driver in the Peruvian region of Puno, on the border with Bolivia, official sources said on Monday.
In a statement, the Ministry of Culture detailed that the remains, classified as a national cultural asset, were identified as those of a mummified adult male, presumably from the eastern part of Puno.
Sources at the ministry told EFE that, according to preliminary investigations, the individual was over 45 years old and approximately 1.51 meters tall.
The Puno Culture Directorate “verified the authenticity of the pre-Hispanic cultural object, with a relative chronology of 600 to 800 years old.
After the discovery, the ministry immediately ordered the custody of the remains “to protect and preserve the heritage.”
The relevant services are now taking the necessary measures to ensure the physical and legal protection of the mummy, considered a cultural heritage of the Andean country.
According to the local press, the discovery occurred last Saturday at a lookout point in Puno, where police officers were carrying out their usual patrol and found three men consuming alcoholic beverages, one of them with a delivery box from the company “Pedidos Ya”.
Inside were human remains in the fetal position and soft tissue with characteristics corresponding to a mummy, which was reported to the Public Ministry and the Ministry of Culture.
The deliveryman claimed that he kept the mummy in his parents’ house and took it to show to friends in the neighborhood, according to the newspaper “El Comercio”.
In response, the ministry asked the population to “actively collaborate in the defense and protection” of cultural heritage and to report any similar discoveries to the authorities.
With information from EFE