Archaeologists discover 1,000-year-old surgeon’s tomb in Peru

Archaeologists announced Wednesday that they have discovered a 1,000-year-old tomb of a pre-Inca surgeon in a temple in northern Peru. “We were able to excavate a tomb more than 1,000 years old for a person who worked as a surgeon in the Sican culture,” archaeologist Carlos Elera told AFP.

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The discovery occurred in late 2021 at the shrine temple of Las Ventanas, in the Bosque de Pomac Historic Reserve, in the Lambayeque region, 800 kilometers north of Lima.

“The person in question was a specialist in drilling the skull, and his surgical tools were for everything related to human cranial surgery,” Elera said.

The Sican culture was a pre-Columbian culture that existed in northwest Peru from 750 to 1375. It is also called the Lambayeque culture, because its center is located in the region of the same name.

The tomb contained, among other things, a golden mask, a large bronze bust, and other artifacts attesting to the condition of the buried person, who was found sitting cross-legged.