Toucan beak found in elite woman’s grave in Peru

The tomb of an elite woman from the Caral civilization complete with all of funerary offerings has been discovered at the archaeological site of Áspero. The woman’s body is exceptionally well-preserved, complete with skin, hair and nails, a rarity in this coastal dessert city less than a half mile from the Pacific Ocean.

Other organic materials in the burial also survived in an extraordinary state of preservation. The body was wrapped in layers of cotton fabric, reed mats, netting and plant fibers, all of which survived, as did the headdress made of plant fibers with bundles of twisted threads placed on top of her body. Funerary offerings found in the grave include a toucan’s beak decorated with green and brown beads, a snail shell from the Amazon jungle, a fishing net, weaving tools, reed baskets, 30 sweet potatoes, an embroidered wool textile and an opulent panel embroidered with macaw feathers that is one of the oldest examples of feather art in the Andes.

Between 20 and 35 years old when she died, the richness of her grave furnishings and adornments indicate the deceased was a person of high social standing, perhaps holding a position of political or religious power. There are no written records for this pre-ceramic civilization, so the survival of so many perishable goods is giving archaeologists a new opportunity to study Caral culture, craftsmanship, commerce and how social status was reflected in their goods.

Áspero was the main fishery for the ancient city of Caral, capital of the Caral-Supe civilization, the oldest known civilization in the Americas which flourished in north-central coastal Peru between 3000 and 1800 B.C. Even though it was known as an archaeological site since the early 20th century, but it was sorely neglected, even being used as a municipal dump for three decades before official excavations finally began in 2005.

Thus far, 22 architectural structures have been unearthed at the site in 20 years of excavations. The newly-discovered grave was found in the Huaca de los Ídolos, a large mudbrick temple, where another exceptional grave, the Lady of the Four Tupus, was discovered just 10 feet away in 2016.

* This article was originally published here