38 people buried for 600 years make this Peru tomb the ‘discovery of the decade’ and reveal a hidden world of Chimú power, wealth and ancient rituals

For archaeologists, finding an ancient tomb is one thing. Finding one that has remained sealed for nearly 600 years is far more unusual, because the objects inside can still be studied alongside the people they were buried with, preserving clues that are often lost when graves are looted.

That is what makes a newly uncovered burial platform at Chan Chan in northern Peru so important. The almost intact tomb contains the remains of at least 38 people, along with weapons, metal objects, jewelry and textiles dating to the final centuries of the Chimú civilization. Together, the remains and artifacts could offer researchers an unusually detailed look at how this powerful pre-Inca society buried its elite, organized its hierarchy and understood death.

The discovery has been described by University of Florida archaeologist Gabriel Prieto, who was not involved in the excavation, as the “discovery of the decade” because it provides an unusually clear opportunity to examine an elite Chimú burial, reported The New York Times.


The discovery is particularly significant because many ancient elite burials at Chan Chan were disturbed or looted long before archaeologists could document them scientifically. In those cases, researchers may still see the objects in museums or private collections, but they lose the crucial information about exactly where an object was found, whom it was buried with and how the burial was arranged.

What archaeologists found beneath the ruins

The burial platform was found in the complex of Utzh An, which used to be known as the Great Chimú Palace, located at the Chan Chan archeological site near present day Trujillo.

It measures almost 17 meters across and has a height of almost five meters. It includes a central chamber and two chambers on its sides. The central room, accessible via an entrance and stairs leading down, held the remains of a principal individual together with shells and metal artifacts.


One side room had weapons and metal artifacts without any bones, whereas another had bones of around 20 people. Seventeen additional sets of remains found elsewhere on the burial platform brought the total number to 38.

The bones seem to belong to individuals of high social standing, as claimed by the Ministry of Culture of Peru and the archeological team. However, scientists need to identify exactly who these people were and how they related to each other.

One burial does not fit the usual pattern

The positioning of at least one of the bodies has already posed some questions. It was found that one of the individuals had been buried in an extended position. It is an anomaly, since Chimú burials are characterized by body positions in the form of a flexed or seated-flexed pose. The anomaly might help reveal more about the identity of the person, but it still needs clarification.

The skull of the main individual has a red pigment as well. Scientists need to analyze whether the red pigment is cinnabar, which is red ore consisting of mercury sulfide. The same coloring has reportedly been noticed in some other bones.

Who were the Chimú?

The Chimú were a powerful pre-Inca civilization that flourished along Peru's northern coast from roughly 900 to 1470. Chan Chan became their political center and grew into a vast urban complex built largely from adobe, or sun-dried earth bricks.

The city contained enormous walled compounds associated with political, administrative and elite activities. Its funerary platforms were part of this wider system of power, making burials particularly important for understanding how Chimú society was organized.

The newly discovered platform dates to the final centuries of the Chimú world, around the period when the Inca were expanding into the region. That makes the burial especially useful for understanding Chimú society near the end of its independent political history.

Chan Chan may still be hiding much more

Perhaps the most striking part of the discovery is how much remains unknown. Meneses told El País that no more than about 7% of Chan Chan's total area has been excavated. The newly uncovered burial therefore represents not just a window into one ancient tomb, but a reminder of how incomplete the archaeological picture of the city remains.

Researchers are now moving from excavation toward laboratory analysis and conservation. The coming work could reveal whether the 38 individuals belonged to the same social group, how they were connected and why they received different forms of burial.