http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6172530.stm

Wednesday, 22 November 2006, 13:06 GMT

Tomb find reveals pre-Inca city

Archaeologists working in northern Peru have discovered a spectacular
tomb complex about 1,000 years old.

The complex contains at least 20 tombs, and dates from the pre-Inca
Sican era.

Among the discoveries are 12 "tumis", ceremonial knives which scientists
have not been able to study in a burial site before, as well as ceramics
and masks.

The Sican culture flourished from approximately AD 800-1300, one of
several metalworking societies which succumbed to drought and conquest.

Archaeologists working on the project say the find will help them
understand details of the culture.

"It is a religious city, a sacred settlement, and at each excavation
site is a cemetery," Izumi Shimada told Peru's El Comercio newspaper.

"That tells us that Sican was a very organised society."

Professor Shimada, based at the University of Southern Illinois in the
US, has been excavating Sican sites for a quarter of a century. The
latest dig was performed in conjunction with the Sican National Museum.

Trading goods

The burial site sits on Peru's northern coast, near the town of
Ferrenafe.

Discoveries in the tomb complex include tumis formed from an alloy of
silver, copper and gold; masks, breastplates and ceramics.

Buried in a pyramid 30m (100ft) long, archaeologists found the bones of
a woman in her early 20s surrounded by figurines of Sican gods, ceramics
and objects in copper and gold.

Another set of bones, clearly from a person of some stature, were found
in a seated position accompanied by a metallic crown, part of a thorny
oyster, and various ceramic objects including a vase.

The tumis are a prize find, because until now the knives have come to
scientists from tomb raiders. Finding them in situ would allow a closer
understanding of their role in Sican culture, researchers said.

One of the tumis features a representation of Naylamp, the mythical
founder of Sican society who according to legend emerged from the sea
and became a god.

The Sican were noted for producing gold, silver and copper in quantities
which were substantial for the period.

They traded shells and stones with societies in what are now Ecuador,
Chile and Colombia.

Their civilisation had already declined by the time that the mightiest
of Peruvian cultures, the Inca, rose to prominence about AD 1200.

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