58 Women Were Buried In This Pre-Inca Tomb. Who Were They?
After an Earthquake and Tomb Raiders, Archaeologists Weren’t Dure They Would Find Anything Untouched at El Castillo de Huarmey in Peru – But in 2012, They Uncovered a Vast Mausoleum.
— By Ariadna Baulenas i Pubill | April 13, 2026
The Wari people founded their capital in the Ayacucho Valley, now South-Central Peru. From here their culture spread, forming what may have been the first Andean empire.
It was almost 550 miles north of the Wari capital, in the Ancash region, that an excavation in 2012 resulted in a remarkable discovery, shedding new light on Wari society. There, in the arid landscape of Peru’s desert coast, a Polish-Peruvian team found the first intact Wari mausoleum at a site known as El Castillo de Huarmey (the Castle of Huarmey).
Map: National Geographic Magazine Staff
Almost a century earlier, in 1919, Julio C. Tello—who’s known as the father of Peruvian archaeology—visited the site, but was forced to leave due to an outbreak of bubonic plague. Later, El Castillo de Huarmey was largely forgotten by researchers, but unfortunately not by huaqueros (tomb plunderers). Illegal digging caused significant damages, and an earthquake in the 1970s brought artifacts to the surface, which attracted more thieves.
A Mausoleum Revealed
Despite the challenges, two archaeologists, Miłosz Giersz and Roberto Pimentel Nita, began to excavate the site in 2010. They knew that even after removing the thick layer of surface rubble, their chances of finding anything left untouched were minimal, but they were willing to take the risk. In time, their tenacity was rewarded.
The site contained nothing less than a large mausoleum dedicated to ancestor worship, a sizable necropolis, and a residential area. The mausoleum, situated at the crest of a hill, is a magnificent, orthogonal building partially set into the bedrock, with a red painted facade. Only the lower sections of its walls had been preserved, but they were enough to indicate that it was once a labyrinthine complex with more than 20 chambers.
A Wari chief sitting on a raft. Ceramic artifact found at El Castillo de Huarmey. Robert Clark, National Geographic Image Collection
In the center of this complex, the archaeologists found a small room with a series of niches in its walls that was dominated by a large throne-like bench. This room became the focus of the excavation campaign when a subterranean chamber was discovered below it. The excavation of this hidden space revealed the first intact collective burial of Wari elite ever found.
The chamber consisted of a large central room and three lateral subchambers, inside which were the remains of 58 women, all wrapped in funeral bundles and buried with a wealth of precious grave goods. The dry conditions inside the tomb had ensured that the contents were remarkably well preserved. The bodies themselves had been buried in a seated position, and fabric remains suggest the bundles had been wrapped with green and white material, held in place by a thick mesh.
Naturally Mummified. The dry climate of the Peruvian desert coast is a gift to archaeologists. Organic matter, such as wood or textiles that would deteriorate in other environments, tends to be preserved. This extreme aridity also means that the bodies buried there have become naturally mummified, with even the skin tissue retained.
In one of the subchambers, the team found the body of a high-ranking noblewoman, nicknamed the “Huarmey Queen.” She was about 60 years old when she died, and was buried with valuable objects, including ear flares, a symbol of power in the Andean world typically associated with the male elite. She clearly commanded great political power.
Elite Burials
The archaeologists recovered more than 1,300 objects from the site, including jewelry, weapons, vessels, and weaving implements. The materials are of high quality and some were considered a luxury at the time: red spondylus shells (imported from Ecuador), obsidian, turquoise, and fine metals. The Huarmey Queen’s weaving tools, part of her grave goods, were made of gold.
A Resting Place For The Elite
The mausoleum at El Castillo de Huarmey. Fernando G. Baptista/National Geographic Image Collection
The Mausoleum at El Castillo de Huarmey was built around an underground tomb for elite women, located in a chamber partially excavated from the bedrock of a hill. Above the tomb was a throne room, with a thronelike bench where rituals would be performed, and niches in the walls where the burial bundles were probably placed for ceremonies. The rest of the building, which includes other, smaller burials, was built around this room. The Wari buried their dead in spaces linked to their places of residence, establishing a close relationship between life and death. In this case, the hilltop mausoleum stands directly adjacent to the palace, and the deceased would have been carried in procession to their final resting place, as illustrated here.
Communal Burial: The tomb contained 58 funeral bundles, of which 54 were found in the main chamber and the remaining four, perhaps queens or princesses, in three lateral subchambers. It was in the middle subchamber that the Huarmey Queen was found. The bodies of six sacrificed adolescent girls had also been deposited on the layer of earth, stones, and mud with which the complex was sealed.
Left: Fragment of textile showing anthropomorphic figures. Right: Twin bottles that were wrapped in cloth before burial. Photographs: Robert Clark, National Geographic Image Collection
The tomb must have remained open for some time, as insects, fly pupae, snakes, and their eggs had lodged among the bundles and even inside the skulls of the dead. This indicates that not all the funeral bundles were buried at once. When it was time to close the chamber, the Wari filled in the space with earth, stones, and mud. The bodies of six sacrificed teenage girls were also left behind. Then, they covered the entire tomb with a layer of rubble, which also served to secure a large wooden rod that pointed vertically from the burial chamber toward the throne above.
Left: Gold Ear Flare with a tubular design and depiction of a winged creature. Right: A kero (Drinking Cup) made from alabaster. Photographs: Robert Clark, National Geographic Image Collection
Eternal Watchers
The last bodies to be buried were those of a man and a woman who had been guarding the tomb. To prepare them for this role, the left foot of each had been amputated to prevent them from running away. The pair, of lower social status, had both been sacrificed. They were found more than a thousand years later, still standing guard over the tomb. The question of whether or not other guardians of eternity are waiting for the archaeologists in El Castillo de Huarmey will only be answered with time and careful excavation.
Mummy of the Huarmey Queen, her face Painted with a Sacred Red Pigment, Adorned with Precious Jewelry and Surrounded by the Objects placed with her at the time of her burial. Fernando G. Baptista/National Geographic Image Collection
