600-Year-Old Pre-Inca Tomb Found in Peru's Kuélap Fortress

Archaeologists in northern Peru have discovered a 600-year-old tomb at Kuélap, a pre-Inca fortress known as the 'Machu Picchu of the Peruvian jungle.' The burial, found by the Programa de Investigación Arqueológica e Interdisciplinaria de Kuélap (PRIAK), contains the remains of five individuals—four adults and one child—along with ritual offerings including ceramics depicting fruits and vegetables, lithic mortars, metal fragments, and marine shells indicating long-distance trade. A carved bone miniature human head is the most intriguing artifact. The U-shaped stone funerary structure was placed on a raised platform in a previously unexcavated area. The site, built by the Chachapoyas people between the 11th and 15th centuries at over 3,000 meters altitude, features monumental walls and hundreds of circular structures. The Chachapoyas, meaning 'cloud warriors,' inhabited 65,000 km² in northern Peru from the 9th to 15th centuries before Inca conquest. Research campaigns are coordinated by Peru's Ministry of Culture, prompted by recent weather damage to the structures.