Over 80 skeletons of adults and children have been found in a tomb in Peru… Belgian archeologists discovered them! Click below to read the full story.

Melissa Nash

A 1,000-year-old tomb containing over 80 skeletons and mummies of pre-Incan people has been discovered by Belgian archaeologists in Peru — including the remains of a dozen infants, the possible victims of human sacrifice.

“The tomb provides a wonderfully rich sample that will allow us to study possible kin ties, local or foreign origin of the deceased, health state, ritual and funerary customs,” archeologist David Eeckhout told Discovery News.

Archeologists were shocked to find the tomb in such good condition given its age, and its exposure over the years to potential grave robbers.

Scientists found males and females of all ages along with ceramics, pets, metals like copper and gold, and painted wooden masks.

It is not clear whether the infants, who were lined up in a circle around the tomb’s perimeter, were the victims of human sacrifice, the scientists told Discovery News.

Many of the mummies remained in their wrappings and causes of death were able to be determined in preliminary exams.

“One juvenile was killed by a blow on the skull. All over the cemetery we have lots of lethal disease traces, such as cancer and syphilis,” Eeckhout told Discovery News.

Pachacamac, an archaeological site 20 miles south of Lima, is a 60 foot long, oval chamber covered with a roof of reeds and supported by tree trunks, Discovery News reports.

The tomb consisted of two chambers separated by a mud brick wall that indicate space left for more burials.

The area was ruled by the Ychsma until the Inca conquered it just 63 years before Spanish Conquistadors conquered and pillaged Peru in 1470.

The team of archaeologists, from the Universite libre de Bruxelles, has spent 20 years excavating the site, Science Daily reports. It was excavated as part of the Ychsma Project, an ongoing effort to record the history of the pre-Hispanic civilization in the area.

Pachacamac is being considered for inclusion on the United Nations list of UNESCO World Heritage sites, reports UPI.

The exact age of the remains is unknown, but Eeckhout and his teams are confident they will be able to date the tomb and in doing so begin to paint a clearer picture of the Ychsma people, Discovery News reports.

These are not the only remains his team has found at the site, but this tomb is their most substantial find yet.