Pre-Hispanic mummy found in a delivery man’s backpack in Peru

A pre-Hispanic mummy, between 600 and 800 years old, was found inside the backpack of a delivery man from a “delivery” company (home delivery) in the Peruvian region of Puno, adjacent to Bolivia, official sources reported Monday. Through a statement, the Ministry of Culture specified that the remains, classified as a national cultural asset, were identified as that of a mummified adult man, presumably from the eastern area of Puno. Sources from that office detailed to EFE that the individual would be over 45 years old and approximately 1.51 meters tall, according to preliminary investigations. They added that the Decentralized Directorate of Culture of Puno “verified the authenticity of the pre-Hispanic cultural asset, with approximately a relative chronology of 600 and 800 years old.”

After the discovery, the ministry immediately ordered the custody of the remains “in order to protect and preserve the heritage.” Now, the competent departments are carrying out the pertinent steps for the physical and legal protection of the mummy, considered a cultural heritage of the Andean country. The discovery, according to local media, occurred last Saturday at a viewpoint in Puno, where some police officers carried out their usual patrol and found three men consuming alcoholic beverages, one of them with a “delivery” box from the company “PedidosYa”.

Inside, there were human remains in a fetal position and soft tissues with characteristics corresponding to a mummy, which was communicated to the Public Ministry and the Ministry of Culture. On his part, the delivery man alleged that he kept the mummy at his parent’s house and that he took it out to be seen by his friends from the neighborhood, according to the newspaper El Comercio. Given these facts, the ministry called on the population to “actively collaborate in the defense and protection” of cultural heritage and to communicate any similar findings to the authorities.