The mystery of the Huaca Loro tomb: what terrible ritual did the ancient people perform there?

In the 1990s, a group of archaeologists led by IzumiShimada (Izumi Shimada) studied the tomb of Huaca Loro located in Peru. Inside it, they found the skeleton of a man in a sitting position, which was painted red. His skull lay separately and was hidden under a golden mask, also covered with red dye. Next to this figure were also two skeletons in the form of a woman in labor and a midwife, and a little higher were the remains of two squatting children. According to the calculations of the researchers, the tomb was built around 750-1375 AD, when representatives of Sican culture... It goes without saying that scientists have a verymany questions. For example, why are people's bodies folded into certain positions? Besides, how was the dye able to stay well on the surface of the golden mask - it couldn't be absorbed into it? Recently, archaeologists have been able to provide answers to these questions.

The mask found inside the tomb of Huaca Loro

The mystery of an ancient civilization

The results of the study werepublished in the scientific journal Journal of Proteome Research. Scientists believe that the man sitting in the middle of the tomb was 40-50 years old at the time of death. They obviously worked on the burial, so there is no doubt that this person was a representative of the nobility. Why the figures around him took exactly such poses is a big mystery. But in a recent study, scientists have made a very interesting suggestion.

Gold mask with the remains of bloody paint

The man's bones and the mask on his face were covered cinnabar... This is the name of the paint that was obtained fromeponymous mercury mineral that looks like a stone with blood stains. Scientists were surprised that the shade was so well preserved on the mask. With bones, everything is simple - they have a porous structure and dyes could easily be absorbed. But the gold mask hardly has pores on its surface, so the durability of the paint was probably provided by some kind of binder.

Mineral cinnabar looks like a stone with blood stains

While examining a small sample of paint, scientistsfound traces of proteins in it. Upon closer examination, it turned out that among them there is serum albumin and immunoglobulin G, which are found in human blood. Also, the paint contains ovalbumin, which is part of the egg white. Unfortunately, the components of the paint have already been damaged, so the scientists did not manage to find out exactly from which bird egg the protein was isolated. But they assume it was a musk duck.

Muscovy ducks and their ducklings

The cult of blood among the ancient peoples

The fact that the paint contained humanblood, hints at the presence of a blood cult among the representatives of the Sikan people. This phenomenon played a big role in the life of another Indian civilization - the Aztecs. These peoples believed that the blood of people is necessary to maintain the life of the gods. That is why this cult has become the cause of numerous sacrifices. Most likely, the bones of the man and the mask from the tomb were covered with bloody paint because people wanted to resurrect him. This is also hinted at by the figures of women giving birth and children who are just above. This is just theory, but it sounds pretty realistic.

Reconstruction of one of the burials of the Sikan culture

See also: Rome was founded and disappeared - the secret of the mysterious Etruscan civilization revealed

In fact, Sican culture is verymysterious phenomenon in the history of South America. Scientists began to suspect its existence only in the 1990s. The fact is that on the territory of Peru there were often archaeological monuments, the construction of which could not be attributed to the already known civilizations. Therefore, the researcher Izumi Shimada suggested that another culture existed at the border of the 1st and 2nd millennia of our era. Some scholars criticized his assumption, but in the end, the truth turned out to be on the side of the Japanese professor of anthropology.

One of the artifacts of the Sican culture

According to the legends, the founder of the Sicancivilization, there was a man named Naimlap. He and his men sailed from the south in several boats. They installed an idol in the form of a green woman on the new land, defeated the Moche civilization on the northern coast of Peru, and built their own structures. It is believed that the Sicans were ruled by 12 generations of leaders. It is possible that the man inside the tomb is just one of them. Again, according to legend, the last of them was the ruler Fempellek, who decided to move the green idol. Thus, he launched torrential rains and floods, which destroyed civilization.

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But these are all just legends.Scholars tend to believe that the Sikan culture disappeared due to the attack of the Chimu people. He founded the kingdom of Chimor, but was soon destroyed by the Inca empire. This is readily believed, because we have already written that the representatives of this civilization were very cruel.