Unsealed for the First Time in 600 Years, This Tomb in Peru Was Just Declared the ‘Discovery of the Decade’

Archaeologists excavating Chan Chan, the capital of the pre-Inca Chimú civilization, found an undisturbed mausoleum that held the remains of at least 38 individuals, as well as a trove of rich funerary goods

Meilan Solly | Senior Associate Digital Editor, History

September 14, 2026 3:05 p.m.

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Some 600 years ago, members of the pre-Inca Chimú civilization buried more than three dozen people in a mausoleum near modern-day Trujillo, Peru. The dead were interred alongside a rich array of grave goods, including metal weapons, copper and gold artifacts, ornate jewelry, and colorful textiles—suggesting that they were high-status individuals, perhaps even royalty.

The mausoleum remained largely intact until earlier this year, when excavations uncovered its entrance beneath layers of sand, soil and stone at Chan Chan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was once the Chimú capital. The tomb dates to during or just before the Inca conquest of the region in the mid-15th century, making its survival, untouched by colonial and contemporary looters alike, even more impressive.

As lead archaeologist Jorge Meneses tells BBC News, the find marks “the first time that Peruvian archaeologists have been able to come across an almost intact [funerary] platform, with unaltered contents, a platform that was designed for an elite individual, whose main chamber has remained sealed for almost 600 years.”

Hallan 38 osamentas con orejeras y collares en entierro de una cultura preinca de Perú

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Previously, “what was known about elite burials in Chimú society came from looted platforms, private collections and museum holdings,” Meneses tells El País’ Renzo Gómez Vega. “There was no scientific data on the individuals and their corresponding artifacts and associations.”

The Chimú thrived in what is now northern Peru between roughly 900 and 1470. The civilization was the “first true engineering society in the New World,” devising a network of irrigation canals that enabled its people to thrive in a desert valley, hydraulic engineer Charles Ortloff told Smithsonian magazine’s Bruce Hathaway in 2009.

Chimú kings lived in walled palaces, with each ruler building a new royal compound upon their accession. Many of Chan Chan’s surviving palaces feature funerary platforms where rulers were laid to rest with members of their retinue.

The newly discovered mausoleum is located in Chan Chan’s Utzh An complex. A staircase leads down into the tomb’s central chamber, which measures roughly 4 feet wide and 16 feet deep, according to the state-run Andina news agency. Inside this main room, archaeologists identified the remains of a single individual whose skull bore traces of a red pigment, possibly cinnabar, a crystalline form of mercury sulfide.

Some of the skeleton’s bones are missing, leading the researchers to posit that the remains were later moved or reburied. This was a common practice among Andean societies at the time, with communities continuing to interact with and even worship the bodies of their loved ones and leaders after death.

Two rooms flank the central chamber on either side. One was virtually empty, while the other held roughly 20 sets of human remains, as well as miscellaneous artifacts. Archaeologists found an additional 17 skeletons while excavating the funerary platform, bringing the total number of people buried there to at least 38.

Much about the tomb remains unknown, from the individuals’ ages and genders to the circumstances of their deaths. “What is clear to us so far is that these people were part of the elite or were associated with the elite,” Henry Luis Gayoso, an official with the Peruvian Ministry of Culture, tells the New York Times’ Alan Yuhas.

Gabriel Prieto, an anthropologist at the University of Florida who wasn’t involved in the research, tells the Times that the find is “the discovery of the decade in terms of it’s the very first time that, as archaeologists, we are able to see an elite Chimú burial.” Researchers hope that the undisturbed tomb will shed light on Chimú funerary practices and social hierarchies at a time of great upheaval.

The discovery also underscores how much of the Chimú capital remains unexplored. To date, archaeologists have excavated “no more than 7 percent of Chan Chan’s total area,” Meneses tells El País. “Evidently, the citadel has much more to tell.”

Meilan Solly is a senior associate digital editor at Smithsonian magazine, where she oversees the online history section and writes about everything from archaeology to the British royal family. Solly’s specialties are Tudor England, Renaissance and modern art, and World War II.