3,000-year-old shaman tomb believed to be the mediator ‘between the spiritual and the mortal world’ discovered in Peru

Archaeologists in Peru have discovered a 3,000-year-old tomb containing the remains of a “priest” buried in the image of a jaguar near the town of Cajamarca.

The burial was found in the Pacoampa archaeological complex, which contains a number of ancient tombs that archaeologists from Peru and Japan have been excavating since 2005, Peru’s Ministry of Culture said in a statement. translated.

The priest’s tomb contains three ceramic stamps engraved with images, including a jaguar, according to the statement. These pads may have been used for body painting. Archaeologists also found decorative pottery in the tomb.

The priest’s face was covered with red cinnabar, a natural substance that was difficult to obtain because it had to be transported from the mountains. Yuji Seki, archaeologist at Japan’s National Museum of Ethnology and co-director: “Cinnabar is believed to have originated in the central Andean highlands and we believe that only the elite can obtain or use it through long-distance trade”. of archaeological research. group, told Live Science in an email.

The team calls this individual a “priest” in the statement, but the person may be “more like a mage-like figure who manipulates the powers of jaguars, snakes, and birds of prey like a Seki magician said. People may have turned to shamans for answers or help in healing, and shamans may have used their connection to the spirit world to help them.

“In other words, he must have had the ability to mediate between the spiritual and earthly worlds,” Seki said. The stamps found in his tomb may have been symbols of authority, he added.

The team has not yet done any radiocarbon dating, but the style of the artifacts matches the design of other artifacts found in the region that have been dated to about 3,000 years ago, Seki said.

Archaeologists not involved in the finding called it an interesting discovery but cautioned that it’s too early to call this individual a priest.

“The materials found with the individual include seals for body painting and complete ceramic vessels suggesting that this person was an early elite,” said Jason Nesbitt, an associate professor of archaeology at Tulane University who has conducted extensive archaeological research in Peru. “I am looking forward to more detailed information about the actual skeleton, including data about age and sex, as the project analysis moves forward,” Nesbitt told Live Science in an email.

Justin Jennings, a senior curator of archaeology of the Americas at the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada, said that we need to be cautious about jumping to conclusions when identifying this individual. “To call the buried individual a ‘priest’ or ‘elite’ seems premature, as roles [are] unlikely to have been established” at the time the man was buried, Jennings told Live Science in an email.

Source: live science