Locals notice dusty items in empty lot — and find 500-year-old treasures in Peru
On the outskirts of Lima, Peru, locals stumbled upon some dusty items in a vacant lot. They didn’t know it at the time, but they’d just discovered a cache of 500-year-old treasures.
Locals in Puente Piedra district alerted officials about some historic-looking artifacts in an empty lot, Peru’s Ministry of Culture said in an April 7 news release. A joint team of archaeologists and police went to investigate.
At the site, archaeologists unearthed dozens of pre-Hispanic artifacts and human remains from the Late Horizon period, which lasted from 1476 to 1532, officials said.
Photos show a few of the colorful ancient textiles and fabric bags found at the site. Other 500-year-old artifacts included metal tupus, a type of pin, weaving tools such as spindles with threads, a shell, a decorated band and several bags, one of which had cotton inside.
Archaeologists identified the ancient human remains as a fractured infant skull, 25 limb and rib bones as well as a mummified head with skin and hair.
The 500-year-old finds were taken for conservation and further analysis, officials said.
Archaeologists did not say how the remains and finds came to be buried in Puente Piedra district.
Puente Piedra is about 15 miles north of central Lima and near the western coast of Peru.
Google Translate was used to translate the news release from Peru’s Ministry of Culture.
This story was originally published April 9, 2025 at 10:20 AM with the headline "Locals notice dusty items in empty lot — and find 500-year-old treasures in Peru."
