It's 'the Discovery of the Decade' in Peru

Archaeologists in Peru say they've hit on something they'd never seen before at the ancient Chimu capital of Chan Chan: an elite tomb complex left untouched by looters and a conquering Incan army. Buried beneath the sprawling pre-Inca adobe city near Trujillo, the 600-year-old mausoleum, dating to immediately before or during the Inca conquest of the Peruvian coast, measures roughly 55 feet a side and 16 feet high and holds 38 bodies, likely members of the Chimu ruling class. One outside researcher describes it as "the discovery of the decade," per the New York Times.

Inside the complex, researchers found funerary bundles, a chest packed with vivid textiles showing seabirds and monkeys, and an array of metal weapons. The skeletons themselves, some dusted with a red pigment that may be cinnabar, wore quartz and shell jewelry, silver- or copper-plated necklaces, as well as semiprecious stones. Researchers suspect one skeleton, in a fully extended position unlike the rest, might belong to a person of particularly high rank—or a victim of human sacrifice, per Heritage Daily. Scholars say the find, still being explored, could reshape understanding of how the Chimu navigated the rise of the Inca empire.