Pre-Incan tomb 1,600 years old found in Peru

By Jean Luis Arce

LIMA (Reuters) - Archaeologists have discovered the intact tomb of a pre-Incan leader who lived 1,600 years ago that could help solve mysteries about Peru's ancient Moche civilization, the group's lead scientist said on Saturday.

The tomb, called Huaca del Pueblo, was dug up in the province of Lambayeque, some 770 km north of Lima, a coastal desert region where the Moche culture blossomed between 100 BC and 600 AD.

The find shares similarities with the Sipan complex, which was discovered in the same area of Peru 20 years ago and is widely considered one of the world's most important archaeological finds of recent decades.

Both sites include tombs built for prominent figures of the Moche civilization, which is characterized by complex construction techniques and works of art.

"It's clearly a first-rate find because there is lots of iconography, which are elaborate. It will be a real pleasure to manipulate the data and compare them to sites like Sipan," Steve Bourget, 51, a Canadian archaeologist, told Reuters.

Bourget, who has worked in the area since 1986, said the tomb includes 14 crowns, masks, jewelry and technologically sophisticated objects made from copper. The find, while important, is less significant than Sipan, he said.

Scientists said the tomb was well preserved, unlike many other archaeological finds in Peru, which has a long history of tomb robbers digging up ancient objects to sell to collectors.

"The site where I worked was well protected, which prevented these things from being destroyed," he said.

In 2006, British police handed over a golden treasure from the Moche civilization that had been found in a house in London. The treasure, a mythical octopus with human-like attributes, had been stolen from a relatively unknown archaeological site in 1988.