Traces of the Andes ruler

The discovery of the tomb of the ancient Wari civilization reveal who had already mastered the highlands in the west coast of South America before the Inca civilization. A pair of gold and silver earrings with carved winged creatures were found near the female mummy indicate the degree of the owner. The body is preserved it is at least a queen or princess of the royal family members of mysterious Wari civilization.

Workers brush the remains of a coastal pyramid site called El Castillo de Huarmey, 185 miles (299 km) north of Lima. (Picture from: http://www.reuters.com/)

The archaeologists team from Peru and Poland found the earring and the mummy in an ancient tomb untouched by grave robbers. In the excavations, they not only acquire a variety of gold jewelery and a few bottles of clay, but also found the 63 skeletons which has around 1,300 years old. Tomb filled with the bodies of mummified women that provide clues about the Wari empire that ruled the Andes long before the Inca civilization.

Images of winged beings adorn a pair of gold-and-silver ear ornaments a high-ranking Wari woman wore to her grave. Archaeologists found the remains of 63 individuals, including three Wari queens, in the imperial tomb at El Castillo de Huarmey. (Picture from: http://www.livescience.com/)

"For the first time in the history of archeology in Peru we find a royal tomb belonging the Wari civilization and empire," says Milosz Giersz, an archaeologist who led the research. The researchers say that the discovery of it will help them arrange the puzzle pieces of how life in the Andes several centuries before the rise of the Inca empire, which has been recorded in detail by the Spaniards who conquered tribes.

An archaeologist measures the remains of a women believed to be a member of royalty of the Wari empire. (Picture from: http://www.reuters.com/)

The mausoleum was excavated a few months ago on a site near the coastal terraced pyramid called El Castillo de Huarmey, 298 kilometers north of Lima. Giersz, archaeologist at the University of Warsaw in Poland, said that he first discovered the mausoleum through the site aerial photograph.

Researchers say most of the skeletons found in the tomb chamber was mummified woman sitting upright, not lying down. The unique position is indicates that she is a member of the royal family and suggest that the Wari women have more power than previously thought.

As archaeologists dug in one side chamber, they unearthed the remains of a Wari queen and several regal offerings, including a brilliantly painted ceramic flask (right) and an alabaster drinking cup (left). (Picture from: http://nordonart.wordpress.com/)

The three of Wari queens were buried separately in a smaller booth, among various grave valuable devices, such as the golden weaving utensils, painted ceramic, and a cup carved from alabaster stone. "The women were buried with finely engraved ear pieces made of precious metals that once were believed to be used only by men," archaeologist Patrycja Przadk said.

The historians believe that the Wari, who ruled between the years 600 and 1100 AD, was the first to successfully unite the various tribes in the Andes to be a unique networking. Bioarchaeologist Wieslaw Wieckowski, said six skeletons of the dozens was not swathed in cloth. They suspect that the six skeletons are human sacrifices which is dedicated to the noble mummy. "They are the ones who were thrown into the grave before the tomb was sealed," he said. "They were lying on their bellies, in an extended position and their limbs went in different directions."

To keep the site safe from grave robbers, told National Geographic, the archaeologists team said they had to work in secret. Other sites in the vicinity had been plundered many times, but this mausoleum protected from robbers for hundreds of years, buried under a pile of stones weighing 30 tons.

Long before the Incas built Machu Picchu, Wari empire has grown between the years 700 and 1000, as well as control of territory the size of today's Peru. According to a report in National Geographic, quoted by LiveScience, when Paris inhabited 25 thousand inhabitants, capital of the Wari, Huari, is home to 40 thousand people. Although never a large and prosperous kingdom, Wari civilization remain a mystery until now. ***

They were in power before the Inca

Extent of Wari Empire influence. 
(Picture from: http://nordonart.wordpress.com/)

The Wari empire, or sometimes called Huari, is the first community in the state-level Andean region, in the mountainous west coast of South America. This civilization stands in the Ayacucho, Peru, during the Middle Horizon, between the years 550 and 1000 AD.

They ruled the Andes long before the Inca civilization. Kingdom was formed from the growth of the capital, Huari, which has developed a large city with the characteristics of folk festival, storage facilities, complex monuments, and building settlements in the seventh century. The Wari maximum population at least 10 thousand people.

The Wari population fished corn and wild potatoes as well as raise llama and alpaca. They are connected to a trade network throughout the Andes. They exchange a ceramic container decorated with paintings, textiles, and metal fixtures.

The Wari political structure that consists of a the elite, government officials, as well as the builders. The central part of the city has a large religious complex which is completed with a spacious foyer. This central area is surrounded by a walled settlement blocs fortress and separated by a street.

Each Wari administrative centers controlled by the local leaders, but the archaeologists have not determined how the Wari influence on the colony areas. Even so, the Wari artifacts scattered throughout Peru, which indicates a relationship between the Wari city center and the vicinity colony. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | ARCHAEOLOGY | REUTERS | LIVESCIENCE | TJANDRA DEWI | KORAN TEMPO 4277]

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