Archaeologists have made a big discovery high up in the foggy Andes of northern Peru. They found an old tomb in the style of a chulpa at the ancient city of Kuelap. This tomb had human remains and special offerings inside. It gives us new clues about the mysterious Chachapoya people. These “Warriors of the Clouds” lived before the Incas. They built their city on top of a mountain in the wild Amazonas area. This city has grabbed the attention of researchers for many years. The team dug in a part of the 6th-century fortress that no one had looked at before. What they found tells us a lot about how the Chachapoya buried their dead and how spiritual they were.
Kuelap sits 3,000 meters up in the sky and covers almost 15 acres. Its tall limestone walls show how clever its builders were. These huge walls some as high as 19 meters, have caused many arguments among experts. Some think they were built to keep out enemies. Others say they might have had a special meaning maybe marking the city as a holy place. The Chachapoya lived from about 400 to 1470 CE. Then the Incas took over. We still don’t know much about the Chachapoya, but Kuelap stands as one of the biggest things they left behind.
Peru’s Ministry of Culture announced a new find at Kuelap focusing on Research Area No. 1 within Complex 26. Archaeologists uncovered six round stone structures surrounding a central yard. In one of these, Structure 10, they found an above-ground stone grave typical of Chachapoya burial customs. The grave contained human remains with placed gifts, including a polished stone axe and a slate pendant with complex geometric patterns. These items used in everyday life and sacred rites, point to a culture that gave deep meaning to its burial practices.
Other discoveries, like stone pieces and metal traces, suggest elaborate goodbye ceremonies before Kuelap was left around 1570 CE when the Spanish conquest upset native ways of life across the Andes. The careful layout of the tomb and its gifts shows that Chachapoya burials were planned events showing social ranks and family ties. This find fits with other proof of how the Chachapoya honored their dead, a custom that might have brought people closer in a region often faced with conflict and tough environmental conditions.
This dig is part of a bigger plan to check out 16 different spots in Kuelap covering more than 24,000 square meters. Besides digging up old stuff, experts are trying to protect the site’s weak buildings from wear and tear and earthquakes. The story of the Chachapoya put together from these finds, shows us a smart group of people who mixed practicality with spiritual beliefs, and made it work in one of the toughest parts of the Andes. As they keep digging, researchers want to learn more about how these people lived day-to-day, what they believed in, and how their society was set up in this city high up in the clouds.
Finding the tomb in Kuelap Peru, shows why people are still so interested in the Chachapoya civilization. It sheds light on their complex burial habits and reminds us why it’s so important to keep this old city safe for the future. As experts study each item they find, Kuelap keeps showing us how tough and creative these people were. They carved out a place for themselves in the Andean mountains leaving behind a lasting link to Peru’s rich cultural past.
Header Image: Archaeologist in the dig site in Peru. Source: Gob.pe
Sources
- Amazonas: Descubren estructura funeraria y objetos ceremoniales en la zona norte de Kuélap – https://www.gob.pe/institucion/cultura/noticias/1168711-amazonas-descubren-estructura-funeraria-y-objetos-ceremoniales-en-la-zona-norte-de-kuelap: Official report from Peru’s Ministry of Culture on the chulpa tomb and artifacts.
- Kuélap: Hallazgo de estructura funeraria en la llaqta es inédito y habría más evidencias – https://andina.pe/agencia/noticia-kuelap-hallazgo-estructura-funeraria-llaqta-es-inedito-y-habria-mas-evidencias-1000133.aspx: Andina news article highlighting the tomb’s significance and potential for further finds.
- Valoración económica del Complejo Arqueológico de Kuélap, Amazonas, Perú – https://www.scielo.br/j/resr/a/5W4S4hYgVq5Y6hWzkJ3gL3k/?lang=en: Academic study on Kuélap’s architecture and cultural role.
