Laguna de las Momias 1.73

Laguna de las Momias, also known as Laguna de los Cóndores is an archaeological site located in Leimebamba, in the province of Chachapoyas in the Amazonas Region of Peru, excavated by the archaeologist Federico Kauffmann Doig. The site is called "Laguna de los Condores" because the people that found the lagoon would see these birds soar near the lagoon and it also obtained the name " Laguna de las Momias" because of the findings of the mummies around the area. The Chachapoyas were an old civilization that was located in the northern forest in the time of 900 a.c. This culture had been unknown by archaeologist for hundreds of years until the mummies appeared.It contains a large number of mausoleums that occupy a natural cave of very difficult access, sculpted in the wall of a craggy rock that emerges of a lagoon.Each funeral deposit is constituted by a mummy in seated position, wrapped in both flat and decorated textiles. In the lake of the mummies there were ceramics and other artifacts found that are traced back to the Incas. When excavating the lake of the Mummies in group one there were six mausoleums found each consisting of cubed shaped enclosures placed right next to each other in a row. The tombs were housed in caves that contained paintings on the walls that were related to the mausoleums and contained symbols that were indecipherable. The enclosures were built with only three walls the fourth being the rock wall. The enclosures had two floors and on the top level a window was found. The purpose of the window was to renew the air to prevent the mummies to corrupt by the moisture. The mummies found in the tomb were placed in a seating position. The mummies have unique coffins that contain a human faced stitched on it. Based on the size of the funeral it appears that they were of small creatures. The mummification process of the tombs were done with sophisticated techniques in order to preserve the bodies due to high humidity in the Amazon Andes. In the tombs there were various cultural objects found such as pottery, textiles, wood carvings the size of statues, clothing, silver, personal ornaments, and even ceremonial objects used in their rituals.