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Dozens of bodies of human sacrifices discovered in death pit

Peruvian archaeologists have unearthed eight children and 12 adults it appears may have been sacrificed around 800-1,200 years ago.

The bodies were discovered on Tuesday, February 22 as part of a major dig at the pre-Incan Cajamarquilla complex east of Lima.

The remains were outside an underground tomb where the archaeologists from Peru’s San Marcos University had found in November an ancient mummy thought to be an important person bound with ropes and in a fetal position.

Archaeologist Pieter Van Dalen said the children and adults, some mummified and others skeletons, were wrapped in various layers of textiles as part of ancient pre-Hispanic ritual, and had likely been sacrificed to go alongside the main mummy.

Van Dalen told a news conference that for pre-Incan cultures death was not the end, but rather a transition to a parallel world where the dead lived.

Provided by Metro An ancient mummy of child is seen in National University of San Marcos in Lima, Peru (Getty)

Provided by Metro Archaeologists present six funerary mummy bundles belonging to the Wari Culture at a pre-Inca complex modernly known as the Cajamarquilla archeological center (Getty)

He explained that the burial pattern has been seen before, citing the tomb of the Lord of Sipan, a ruler from 1,700 years ago who was discovered along with children and adults who had been sacrificed to be buried with him.

Yomira Huaman, part of the team of archaeologists, said that along with funeral items they found musical artifacts such as the ‘zampona’; a wind instrument of Andean origin with several wooden tubes in the form of flutes.

Peru is home to hundreds of archaeological sites of cultures that developed before and after the Inca Empire, which 500 years ago, dominated the southern part of the continent, ranging from southern Ecuador and Colombia to central Chile.