Archaeologists Have Unearthed The Youngest Moche noble at Sipán site

Two thousand years ago, a young man was buried in the royal mausoleum next to a huge and brightly festooned Moche pyramid, now known as the Huaca Rajada, at the site of Sipán. Studies have been conducted on this latest discovery that have determined his age at moment of death to be just 21, making him the youngest Moche noble yet found.

This is the important conclusion of scientific analysis conducted by physical anthropologist Luis Millones, who in the past weeks has studied the tomb of the mysterious youngster, determining his age and nobility, astonishing considering his contemporaries died in their 40s.

Luis Millones and team had recognized about the tomb at the Sipán site, location of one of world’s archaeology’s most inspiring discoveries in the form of the Lord of Sipán, since 2005.
Millones has taken bone samples from the skeleton’s right foot, which have been sent to a lab in the US in order to determine both the exact age and the degree to which the young Moche was associated to those in other tombs at the famous site.

The remains of the young noble have been unearthed and removed from the tomb to determine locally whether the bones show any signs of violence, or any other kind of evidence to explain the cause of death.

Head of the Sipan site, Luis Chero Zurita, told reporters today that from the studies carried out so far, the team is ready to publicize who they think the character was.

Based on the things found in the tomb – two ceramic containers, two another owl-shaped ceramic items and a gold mask also of an owl – the team is lead to the conclusion that he served spiritual functions.
Speaking with a reporter from Peru’s El Comercio newspaper, he explained:

“Similar objects were found in tomb 14 of the warrior-priest, in which many details featuring owls are seen. There are other objects, like the tip of a metal club or spear, which also reveals that it served military functions”.