Inca-Era Mummy Discovered Near Machu Picchu

 

The Frozen Mummy of an Inca Girl Found On Top Of A Mountain In Argentina In 1999

 (Note: Readers of this blog will recall that a German adventurer, Augusto R. Berns, claimed to have discovered a cave full of Inca mummies on a piece of property he… purchased in 1867 near Machu Picchu. Berns called his property (which lay lay on the opposite side of the Urubamba River from Machu Picchu) “Torontoy.” In a prospectus that Berns wrote, “Particulars of the Torontoy,” Berns claimed that there was an abandoned cave in which Inca mummies had been buried as well as various gold mines. No gold mines have ever been discovered near Machu Picchu, which indicate that Berns was trying to inflate the worth of his property by making false claims. Given the Associated Press article below, however, which states that an Inca mummy complete with gold brooches has been discovered at “Torontoy,” Berns’ claims about Inca mummies just may have been true.)

Peru Archaeologists Find Mummy Near Machu Picchu

Nov 28, 2008

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peruvian government archaeologists have found an Incan mummy and 25 ceremonial objects in a dig within the Machu Picchu state park.

Lead archaeologist Homar Gallegos says the sex and age of the ancient Inca is still unknown. The team plans to analyze the mummy’s remains and the ceremonial objects in a laboratory in the nearby city of Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Inca empire.

Gallegos says the tomb held gold brooches, ceramic plates and ceramic vessels decorated in pairs as man and woman, representing the concept of Andean duality.

Gallegos said Friday that the mummy was found some (12 miles) 20 kilometers from the Incan citadel of Machu Picchu at a site called Torontoy, which functioned as a trade post.

Below: The map below (excluding the inset at upper right) was created by the German, Augusto Berns in 1874 (the colored portions and inset boxes on bottom left were made by the American explorer, Paolo Greer, who provided these maps). The red dot indicates the location of the ruins of Machu Picchu. The location of Berns’ Torontoy is towards the bottom of the map. Berns’ property, which he also called “Torontoy” stretched from the yellow line at the bottom of the map to the yellow line at the top, on the opposite side of the Urubamba River from Machu Picchu.