Sarcofagi of Carajía

The Sarcofagi of Carajía are unusually large sarcofagi in Carajía, Peru.

The Sarcofagi of Carajía are unique in their genre for their colossal size, up to 2.50 m high, for their careful making, and, for the fact, that they were remained practically intact because of their location atop a ravine of difficult access.

Although the model of burial using coffins of anthropomorphous shape and sarcofagi, was already mentioned in the Mercurio Peruano (1791) as part of the cultural area of Chachapoyas, and it deserved the attention of Louis Langlois (1939) and of the archaeologists Henry and Paule Reichlen (1950), this Chachapoyas's peculiarity of burying their illustrious deceased was almost completely forgotten. The Antisuyo Expedition/84 located, at Carajía, the most amazing group of sarcofagi known till then, thanks to references provided by Carlos Torres Mas and Marino Torrejón. It was remaining completely unpublished and still untouched.

Thanks to the support given by members of the Club Andino Peruano, the archaeologists were able to climb 24 m of rocky vertical wall and gain access to the cave where the sarcofagi are located. This place is located to more than 200 m from the bottom of the gorge. The Sarcofagi of Carajía consists of a group of seven sarcofagi. The eighth one collapsed probably during the earthquake of 1928, disappearing in the abyss. Since the sarcofagi are sideways next to each other, the one which collapsed opened some holes in the contiguous sides of the next.

This fact allowed scientists to investigate in detail the content of this sarcofagi and to determine the content of the remaining ones. In this way, the remaining ones did not have to be forced and they remain intact. Inside the open sarcofagus, a mummy was found. It sat on an animal skin and was wrapped in mortuary cloths. Ceramics and diverse objects were accompanying the deceased as gifts. The date obtained by radiocarbon was 1460 AC +60. Rodents and birds of prey had disturbed the burial, after the holes had appeared in the sarcophagus. The sarcofagus was emptied by scientists to preserve the mummy and its belongings.

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