This is the ‘Huaca Rajada’, the ‘Cracked Tomb’,
as the burial complex of the Lord of Sipan is popularly know.
Excavations are still going on at this extraordinary find.
It is the first time that the burial site of an important Moche nobleman has been discovered intact.
This complete series of different, interrelated elements, 1,700 years old,
represents a decisive advance in the study of this culture.
Buried in a wooden coffin, the first to be discovered in America,
the Lord of Sipan lies surrounded by enormous quantities of gold and silver objects.
In the replica which occupies the place of the original coffin,
we can see these ornaments, a reflection of his status as governor.
His body is conserved in the Bruning Museum, in Lambayeque.
He was buried along with his three wives, a warrior, a priest and a child.
And further up, in a corner, the guardian, his feet cut off, to symbolically prevent him from escaping.
He was a boy of around nine years old who, because he was pure, would be able to lead his master into the after-life.
Hundreds of pottery vessels, filled with the food they would need in the other world.
Everyone considered it an honour to be buried alongside the great Lord.
His personal counsellor was the last to be buried.
Up to now, twelve tombs have been found at this one burial complex.
The most important ones are those of the Lord of Sipan, that of the previous governor,
who they called the Old Lord, and that of the priest who, in Moche society,
was second in the hierarchical system, immediately below the governor.
Work is carried out meticulously, photographing each new discovery,
noting down even the smallest details, which could provide information.
It is a complex puzzle, in which each piece must be fitted into its correct place,
in order to reconstruct the history of the civilisation which flourished here almost two thousand years ago.
Even the adobe bricks, which the grave robbers normally destroy as they ransack, are here classified by groups.
People would donate them for the construction of the pyramid, and each family marked them with their own stamp.
All the pieces are duly registered.
Every night, under cover of darkness, the robbers continue to find treasures,
raiding the tombs of the Moche, Chimu, Chancay, Paracas, Nasca…
The treasures they unearth are bought for pitiful sums by unscrupulous merchants, and sold on the black market.
With their rods, they search the ground.
They are very experienced, and by sense of touch they know what lies beneath.
But, on many occasions, they break and destroy objects of incalculable value.
The mummies are pulled out in pieces, and so all the information they could give is lost,
and the cloths and funeral canopies are destroyed and left abandoned in the sand.
This is a Chancay tomb. We are one hour from Lima, along the Panamerican highway.
The entire coastal region is like an enormous archaeological treasure,
with hundreds of thousands of burial sites.
The police cannot hope to guard all this territory, and the bands of ransackers are always able to find a way to escape unnoticed.
In the course of a year, many grave robbers die, buried alive.
At times, the fragile walls of the shafts they dig collapse, entombing them.
The mummified bodies were wrapped in cloth decorated with designs.
The most interesting are those of the Paracas.
This culture, which dates from the first centuries of our era,
possessed surprisingly sophisticated textile manufacturing skills.