Description: Buried Treasure
When historians noticed an increased number of Moche artifacts appearing on the black market in the mid 80s, they smelt a rat.
Following this stench led them to one of the most suprising discoveries in the pyramids of Sipan: a full cermonial burial of a Moche Lord. The discovery has been likened to that of the tomb of Tutankhamun in Eygpt.
This kick started a wave of investment in the region and the finds are now stored in the pyramid shaped Museo del Tombas Reales in Lambayeque (10 soles, very strict on no cameras etc.).
An immense amount of effort has gone into cleaning up the many finds and displaying them in a coherent manner. This can be seen from one necklace of heads where one head is left unrestored and obscured by hundreds of years of oxidation.
The clothes, decorations and ritual items are carefully displayed and explained. Clear diagrams show how the items were arranged within an individual burial and how the individual burial was arranged withing the whole edifice.
The site itself (7.50 soles) is slightly disappointing. You can see reconstructions of the tombs in situ, but you would be hard pushed to identify the highly erroded adobe structure as a pyramid. Good views though.
My favorite part of the experience was the sheer consistency of the symbolism and artifacts which allows you to really gain an understanding of the repating motifs rather than just being a series of meaningless exhibits.
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