The Peruvian police were surprised when they searched a delivery man who was acting drunk at an archaeological site in Puno. The man had been reported to the police.
There was an ancient mummy concealed within his cooler bag.
The man stated that he had been occupying the same space with the wrapped mummy for some time and that he saw it as “a kind of spiritual girlfriend.”
He claimed that he had placed the remnants in the bag so that he could show them off to his buddies.
He claimed that he kept the mummy, whom he had dubbed “Juanita” after one of his nicknames, in a box in his room, right next to the television. He also mentioned that it belonged to his father, although he did not elaborate on how his father had acquired it in the first place.
The body was determined to be between 600 and 800 years old and to belong to an adult male. The man who discovered the body along with it had incorrectly concluded that the body belonged to an adult female.
It is estimated that the mummified male was about 45 years old when he passed away and that he stood at a height of 1.51 meters (4ft 11in).
The fetal position of the mummy, which is typical of many pre-Hispanic graves in the area, was made by wrapping the body in bandages.
Before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, a number of different cultures in the region that is now Peru had developed the technique of mummification. While some mummies were laid to rest in tombs, others were unearthed and put on display during significant celebrations.
The police have taken the mummy that was in the cooler bag into custody and delivered it to Peru’s ministry of culture, which is in charge of safeguarding the nation’s cultural heritage.
The person who was carrying it and his two friends, who are all between the ages of 23 and 26, were arrested and are being looked into for possible crimes against Peru’s cultural heritage.