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Peruvian workers clean graves containing a trove of pre-Inca artifacts in Ferrenafe, Peru, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006. Archaeologists in northern Peru said Tuesday they have unearthed 22 artifact-rich graves containing a trove of pre-Inca artifacts, including the first 'tumi' ceremonial knives ever excavated scientifically. The more than 900-year-old tombs were found next to a pyramid in the Pomac Forest Historical Sanctuary, about 680 kilometers (420 miles) northwest of the capital, Lima. They are from the Sican culture, which flourished on Peru's northern desert coast from A.D. 750 to 1375. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia) Archaeologists said Tuesday they have unearthed 22...

Archeologists said Friday they have discovered a tomb about 1,200 years old, from the pre-Inca Sican era, in northern Peru. Human remains and jewelry were found July 4 along with the tomb, likely that of a member of the aristocracy of the Sican or Lambayeque elite, head researcher Carlos Wester La Torre told AFP. A gold earflap, a silver-plated crown, and some 120 silver and copper ornaments that served as emblems of power, along with 116 pieces of pottery and seashells were found in the tomb. The tomb was located in a burial chamber some six meters (20 feet) deep...

Sacrifice is an age-old ritual, but the inhabitants of 10th-century Peru brought sinister novelty to their rites by slaughtering children. In the Lambayeque valley on the north coast, the earliest definitive evidence of ritual child sacrifice uncovered.... "The scale and sheer complexity of the blood sacrifice of children appears to be something completely new," said Haagen Klaus of Utah Valley University in Orem... To investigate the role of ritual sacrifice in the Middle Sicán period, researchers examined 81 skeletons at the site, probing their teeth and bones to determine who they were and why they'd been killed. ... 70 per...

Tomb find reveals pre-Inca city The discover of tumis in situ is particularly exciting to scientists Archaeologists working in northern Peru have discovered a spectacular tomb complex about 1,000 years old.The complex contains at least 20 tombs, and dates from the pre-Inca Sican era. Among the discoveries are 12 "tumis", ceremonial knives which scientists have not been able to study in a burial site before, as well as ceramics and masks. The Sican culture flourished from approximately AD 800-1300, one of several metalworking societies which succumbed to drought and conquest. Archaeologists working on the project say the find will...

LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - A gold mask dating back more than 1,000 years to a pre-Inca civilization in northern Peru will be returned home next year after being turned in to police by a collector in Italy, a museum official said on Friday. The well-preserved mask, measuring 14 inches (35 cm) long by 8.7 inches (22 cm) wide, represents the sea god Naylamp from the Sican culture, Carlos Elera, director of the National Sican Museum in Peru told Reuters by telephone. "It's authentic. It's classic Sican, gold with deep red mercury sulfide which had religious importance in the beliefs of...