After 18 years of excavating in San Jose where only female
remains have been found, an unexpected male was uncovered
among priestesses of the pre-inca society located in Peru. He was
found in a double chambered wooden tomb with a copper lattice
and a gilded mask, sitting on a raised platform inside of the
coffin.This unexpected find may uncover why so far only
female elite bodies have been found even though both men
and woman were seen through art work as rulers. Excavation
leader Castillo Butters suspects that this mask might have been
removed from another coffin because it was similar to another
mask that was found.
The bottom left is a picture of the unique double chambered tomb in which the elite male
was found. He is believed to have ruled along side more famous priestesses and
then buried with these women. The tomb is fairly empty which means that items
and bodies were most likely removed. The males coffin is found pushed up
against the upper right side of the tomb and appears that "the male was not
actually the tomb's primary resident," as stated by anthropologist Steve Bourget.
Jessica Paiva
Period 3
2 comments:
I liked this, it's really cool that the tomb was found so close to where we are. It makes me wonder what other artifacts could be only a few hundred feet away.
It's always intresting to see a society led by women.
Post a Comment