Peruvian workers clearing the way for new gas pipes stumbled across a mummy that archaeologists have since determined to be approximately 1,000 years old.
The mummified remains were discovered not even two feet beneath the Earth's surface in Peru's capital of Lima. reported the Associated Press. Workers for the gas company Cálidda initially unearthed a makeshift tomb maker fashioned from the trunk of a huarango tree in June, under which a child-sized body was found sitting upright, wrapped in cloth and surrounded by ceramics, rope and food items.
Archaeologists believe the well-preserved remains belonged to an adolescent, aged between 10 and 15 years old, of the pre-Inca Chancay culture, Cálidda said in a Facebook post. Dark hair and pieces of skin were still attached to the body, which Jesus Bahamonde, archaeologist and scientific coordinator for Cálidda, told AP and the Agence France-Presse was likely buried between 1000 and 1200 CE.
'Great stories aren't just told'
Because discoveries of this nature are common in Peru, utility companies are generally required to have archaeologists on staff to oversee digs.
"Great stories aren't just told: they're lived, discovered, and shared," Bahamonde said in a LinkedIn post, translated from Spanish, about the discovery. "This is a new story added to the more than 2,200 archaeological remains discovered along our path. Millennia-old testimonies that lie beneath our streets, waiting to be interpreted with respect and returned to the collective memory."
The Chancay culture flourished from around 1000 to 1470 CE, before later being absorbed into the Inca Empire, according to the University of Missouri's Museum of Art and Archaeology. The coastal Chancay civilization is recognized by archaeologists for its people's accomplishments in producing distinct ceramics and textiles.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: See photos of 1,000-year-old-mummy discovered in Peru
