Workers Were Laying a Gas Pipeline—and Uncovered a 1,000-Year-Old Child Mummy

MaximilianSci/Tech2025-06-277790

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Utility crews constructing a natural gas pipeline in Peru uncovered a 1,000-year-old mummy.

Located in what is now a neighborhood, the seated mummy was likely the result of a pre-Hispanic burial.

The environment along Peru’s coastline often naturally mummifies remains.

Workers laying new natural gas pipeline in Lima, Peru, unexpectedly found something else entirely natural: A 1,000-year-old mummy.

The find occurred just 20 inches below the surface, in what was once an agricultural field and is now a working-class neighborhood. “We found remains and evidence that there could be a pre-Hispanic burial,” said Jose Aliaga, an archaeologist with the utility company Cálidda, according to the Associated Press.

Crews digging a trench for the pipeline discovered the mummy of a boy—likely between the age of 10 and 15 years old—in a seated position with dark brown hair still on his head. The remains were covered with a bundle of objects that included a shroud and calabash gourds. Jesus Bahamonde, director of the archaeological monitoring plan of metropolitan Lima at Cálidda, said that the mummy may have once been part of the Chancay culture, which was a society of fisherman that lived in the area between 1000 and 1470 A.D.

The find occurred near the trunk of the native huarango tree, “which served as a tomb marker in the past,” Bahamonde said, according to CBS. “The burial and the object correspond to a style that developed between 1,000 and 1,200 [A.D.].”

The boy was found with ceramic plates, bottles, and jugs next to him, some of which were decorated with geometric patterns and figures of fishermen.

Human remains discovered on the coast of Peru are found in naturally mummified states not infrequently, as the skin gets dehydrated from summer heat. “It is very common to find archaeological remains on the Peruvian coast, including Lima,” said Pieter Van Dalen, dean of the College of Archaeologists of Peru, “mainly funerary elements: tombs, burials, and, among these, mummified individuals.”

And in general, the likelihood of uncovering archaeological finds when working in and around Lima is so high that utility companies are required to hire archeologists when excavating. Cálidda reports that it has made more than 2,200 archaeological finds in the last 20 years alone.

And these discoveries have been diverse. For instance, in 2024, crews discovered a 3,800-year-old temple burial that pre-dates the rise of the Incan Empire. Inside, researchers discovered four skeletal remains, all facing the mountains in what is thought to be a symbol of water worship. That same year, archaeologist also uncovered pillared halls in Nepena Valley, featuring finely painted throne rooms depicting a powerful woman, who could have been a seventh-century leader of Pañamarca. That room may be the first throne room built for a queen in Peru.

In 2025, archaeologists announced the discovery of the lost ruins of a ceremonial temple—covered in sand and 4,000-5,000 years old—in the northwest of the country, with the skeletal remains of three adults tucked between walls. In another find, archaeologists explored secret mountain rooms only to discover ancient psychedelic paraphernalia—ancient bones carved into tubes that contained hallucinogenic substances.

Other 2025 finds from Peru include an underground labyrinth that helps confirm a centuries-old rumor—the tunnel network under the ancient city of Cusco, which connected the Temple of the Sun to key points, such as a fortress—and 100 structures from an ancient city that was once inhabited by the “people of the cloud forest.”