Peru Unveils Skeletal Remains Believed to Be Ritual Offering

Archaeologists in Lima, Peru, on Tuesday unveiled skeletal remains they believe were buried as an offering near the base of Huaca Pucllana, an ancient adobe pyramid in the Peruvian capital.

The remains are thought to belong to a man who may have been sacrificed during a ritual marking the closing of a canal linked to a ceremonial pool.

Gladys Paz, the archaeologist who led the excavation, said the bones will help researchers better understand "the rituals of the Lima culture" and reconstruct ceremonies performed hundreds of years ago.

Paz said the body was buried inside the canal, resting on its left side, with the skull facing toward the pyramid and the Pacific Ocean.

The Lima culture flourished between the first and seventh centuries along Peru's arid central coast, roughly 700 years before the rise of the Inca Empire. Huaca Pucllana served as one of the culture's most important ceremonial and administrative centers before it disappeared centuries prior to the founding of Lima by Spanish conquistadors in 1535.

Today the pyramid sits amid parks, tree-lined streets and upscale apartment buildings in the Miraflores and San Isidro districts, and is open to tourists, with an on-site restaurant serving Peruvian dishes such as ceviche, stir-fried beef and roasted alpaca.

According to Peru's government, more than 400 archaeological sites exist across metropolitan Lima. Pieter Van Dalen, an archaeology professor at the National University of San Marcos who was not involved in the excavation, said it is common to find tombs, mummified remains and other burial-related items along Peru's coast, sometimes uncovered even during construction work such as digging canals for gas pipelines.