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Archaeologists discover mummies of children that may be at least 1,000 years old – and their skulls still had hair on them
Four mummified children have been discovered in Peru — and they are believed to be at least 1,000 years old. The mummies were found in what is now one of the oldest neighborhoods in Lima, in what was used as a sacred ceremonial space, according to the Reuters news service, which captured photos and video of the discovery.
The children were part of the Ychsma culture, researchers believe. The remains were found next to an adult and near a small hill with a staircase that could have led to a hidden temple, which is likely 3,500 years old, according to Luis Takuda, an archaeologist who leads the Huaca La Florida research project.
Takuda said three of the mummies were covered in textiles and the other two are skeletons — and their skulls still had hair on them.
"What we see here is that the whole area where we are now was a ceremonial atrium," he said, according to Reuters. "It was a very important ceremonial atrium where the people who lived in the time of the Ychsma considered it a sacred space and therefore buried their dead here."
Mummies or skeletons with hair have been discovered before. Earlier this year, another 1,000-year-old skeleton was uncovered in Peru's Miraflores district — and it too had long, preserved hair, according to Smithsonian Magazine.
And archaeologists in Egypt were shocked to find unwrapped mummified children had fair hair instead of black or brown, according to a study published in 2020 by the journal Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology. They tested modern hair and found it did not lighten due to exposure to the mineral natron, which was used during the mummification process, or after death, which was their hypothesis. Instead, the three children had fair hair due to ancestry, the researchers believe.
In Peru, the site where the four children were found is near homes and a field used by a Peruvian professional soccer team for training, according to the Associated Press. Seeing huacas, or sacred sites, is not uncommon in Lima. There are about 400 of these sites throughout the city, according to the Ministry of Culture.
The hill where the mummies were discovered was covered in trash, and excavators worked for months to clear it, and police had to move homeless people who were in the area, according to the AP.
As the country's capital has expanded, it has begun to occupy "the boundaries of the huacas" and "they have suffocated them or they have cut them off," Hector Walde, an archaeologist who did not work on this dig, told the AP.
Walde said the bodies found were not human sacrifices, but normal burials in the sacred space.
While Lima is home to many of Peru's archaeological sites, most of them exist outside of the city, like in Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire until conquistadors infiltrated it in the 16th century, according to Reuters.
注释：
atrium: n
表示" 中庭；[解]心房"，means ""，如：The reception was held in the atrium. 招待会在中庭举行。The right atrium receives deoxygenated blood from vena cava.右心房接受从大静脉来的缺氧血液。
natron: n
表示" 泡碱；天然碳酸钠"，如：After the removal of the inner organs, the body cavity was stuffed with natron.把脏器移出之后，空空的体腔要用泡碱填满。
excavator: n
表示"挖掘机"，means "a machine for excavating"，如：An intelligent control system to perform excavating operation under unattended condition was designed for excavators. 摘要在无人操作情况下，为实施挖掘作业，设计挖掘机的智能化控制系统。
huaca: N
表示"古秘鲁的一种神物"
suffocate: V
表示" 使窒息；使缺氧；"，means "deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing"，如：But they do suffocate from a lack of air.但它们确实也会因为缺少空气而窒息。
conquistador: n
表示"征服者"，means "an adventurer"，如：Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortez was the first European explorer to realize cocoa's commercial possibilities. 西班牙征服者赫尔南多科蒂斯是第一位了解可可商业潜力的欧洲探险家。
infiltrate: v
表示"（使）渗入；潜入"，means "pass into or through by filtering or permeating"，如：The thick fog seemed to have infiltrated through the very walls into the room. 浓雾好像透过墙壁进到房间里。
中文简要说明：
秘鲁考古学家日前发现1具成人木乃伊，身边还有4个儿童，距今至少有1,000年历史，就埋在一座千年古庙旁。有趣的是，其中2具木乃伊出土时，头颅上还保留完整的头发，没有因为年代久远而腐化，专家惊奇之余，也点出早期文化把死者葬在庙宇的原因。
综合美联社、美国哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）报导，考古学家近期在秘鲁首都利马一处小山丘进行挖掘，意外发现1位大人和4个孩童的木乃伊，身边还有陪葬的陶器。不远处则是一道阶梯，通往一座至少3,500年历史的砖造古庙，。
考古团队负责人塔库达（Luis Takuda）认为，4个儿童来自距今1,000年前的伊赫斯玛文化（Ychsma），比印加文化还要早。对当时的人们来说，庙宇是无比神圣的空间，即使成为废墟也常见死者被葬在附近。今年稍早，其他考古团体也发现一具呈跪姿的长发木乃伊。
据秘鲁文化部指出，整个利马市有多达400个古老祭祀场所散落各处，随着人口不断增加、生活空间扩大，如何抢救并保护这些古迹，已成为考古学家的最大难题。
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