Lima, Peru —A team of Peruvian archaeologists discovered three burials from the Spanish colonial period on top of a pre-Hispanic temple that could be 500 years old, a researcher said.
From 1532, when the Spanish invaded and conquered the Inca empire, until 1821, when popular uprisings led to independence, Peru was under Spanish rule for nearly 300 years.
“We are working with the theory that the remains belong to a colonial cemetery,” said Lucenida Carrion, head of the Park of Legends’ Archaeology Directorate in Lima.
For decades, researchers have been studying the park’s 54 archeological monuments and sanctuaries.
“We have discovered the burials of two adults and a child who were wrapped in cotton cloth in this summit,” the archaeologist added.
The temple, or pre-Hispanic sanctuary known as “Tres Palos,” where the burial site is located, is over 1,000 years old and sits adjacent to the park.
The site was inhabited by settlers from colonial Lima after the pre-Hispanic era.
“We are considering whether the remains are from the colonial era,” Carrion added, pointing to clothes, hair, and a Christian crucifix discovered on one of the remains.
“This finding is important because it will help us determine if there has been a continuous occupation at this site since pre-Hispanic times.”
The Incas used the “Tres Palos” sanctuary as a tambo (food deposit) throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, and adobe (mud and straw) houses were built during the colonial era.
Wooden cross
“What stands out is the cross carried on the chest of one character. This cross indicates the moment of transformation to Christianity of the natives or inhabitants that populated this place,” Carrion said.In addition to the brown wooden cross, sandals, textile fragments, bracelets, funeral mantles, and ceramic vessel remains were discovered.
The archaeological team’s finds are among the most significant in recent years, adding to the analysis of various material testimonies discovered inside the Maranga archaeological complex near Lima’s coast.
“The works carried out in the place allow us to establish that its history dates back approximately 2,000 years and that they were occupied by the Lima culture, the Ychsma and finally the Incas,” Carrion explained.
The Park of Legends, which built in 1964, is called after the pre-Hispanic legends depicted at the enclosure’s entrance.
In 2018, a team of archaeologists discovered a 1,300-year-old cemetery from the pre-Hispanic Lima culture near the park.
© 2022 AFP
