The Leymebamba Museum houses the mummies rescued from Laguna de los Cóndores in 1997. Archeologists heard that looters had discovered mausoleums in the cliffs above an isolated lake and went to save the ones that hadn’t been stolen. Unfortunately, many disappeared into the illegal antiquities market and the ones that remained had been moved and some opened, destroying important information that would have taught archeologists a lot about the people.

The Chachapoya’s mummies are very different from other cultures. Rather than mummifying the whole body, people were buried in temporary graves until the soft tissue had decomposed naturally. Then the bones were dug up and made into a mummy bundle (below).

The bones were set upright, with the skull perched on top. Then they were wrapped in a cotton shroud and unique designs were embroidered on the outside of the shroud, usually with a simple face embroidered where the skull’s face is.