Chachapoyas - Northern Peru - Trekking - Tours - Adventure - Archaeology - Kuelap
- Karajia - Gocta Waterfall - Mummy Museum
Vilaya Tours SRL
Jr. Amazonas 261
Chachapoyas
Amazonas
Peru
Tel: +51(0)41 477506 Fax: +51(0)41 477506
800-
USA representative
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Dates set for 2011 Northern Peru Special Adventure -
Tours in Chiclayo get to know the coastal attractions with Vilaya Tours
Vilaya Tours help to release a young condor back to the wild. VIDEO
Groups 2011
Group discounts are available.
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Information on Laguna de los Condores and the Mummy Museum of Leymebamba
In 1997 a tomb site was discovered on the vertical cliffs that drop down into the Laguna de los Condores. It quickly made headline news and soon travellers were making the difficult trek over the mountains to pose for photos with the mummies. The site itself had been found by farm workers in 1996 and they had gone through the tombs searching for riches. In June of 1997 the site was closed off and plans were made to do an emergency study of the site and how to bring the mummies and artifacts to Leimebamba for care and study.
Even though the site had been disturbed the team of archaeologists organized by the
NGO Centro Mallqui recovered over 200 mummies and more than 200 other artifacts.
Apart from the odd machete mark made by the looters the state of preservation of
everything was exceptional, considering the site was previously last touched 500
years ago. The tombs and their contents of ceramics, textiles, gourds, wooden figures
and bones have a large overhang above them which protected the ledge from rain and
caused a micro-
In September 1997 the archaeologists with funding from Discovery Channel who filmed the event, brought all the artifacts and mummies down to Leymebamba, where they could be properly studied. Housed initially in a local dwelling many groups of specialists came to help with investigations and it was obvious that the discovery was so special it was worthy of its own museum, on which construction started in 1998.
Today visitors can wander through four rooms of the purpose built museum with the cream of the finds on display, including some of the quipus (knotted strings used for accounts by the ancients) and of course an environmentally controlled mummy room.
Now eleven years late the studies are far from over: such was the importance of this find.
