From Robb Report · Francesca Aton for ArtNews · · 1m 20s
Peru's Untouched Tomb Under a Lost Capital
Archaeologists found the first unlooted mausoleum at Chan Chan, a mud city that once ruled Peru's coast.
In brief
Archaeologists found the first unlooted mausoleum at Chan Chan, a mud city that once ruled Peru's coast. After centuries of looting, Chan Chan still had one tomb nobody had reached, and it just came to light. Originally reported by Robb Report.
A tomb no one had touched
Peruvian officials announced this week that archaeologists uncovered an ancient mausoleum complex beneath a ruined citadel on the country's northern coast.
A first for the city
Every other burial found at the site had already been disturbed. This is the first untouched tomb experts have recovered there.
“This is the first time experts have found an untouched tomb in the city.”
The capital of the Chimu
The find sits at Chan Chan, near present-day Trujillo. It was the seat of the Chimu kingdom, which held much of Peru's coast before the Inca rose.
Picked over for centuries
Decades of excavation have turned up a site stripped again and again: first by Inca conquest, then Spanish colonizers, then looters.
The biggest city in the Americas
At its peak Chan Chan sprawled across nine square miles of gardens, plazas, pyramids and mausoleums, the largest city anywhere in the Americas.
Why this one matters
An undisturbed tomb is rare in a place this plundered, which is exactly what makes it worth digging carefully.
The key point
After centuries of looting, Chan Chan still had one tomb nobody had reached, and it just came to light.
