The Lady of Cao

In 2005, a peculiar funerary context was discovered: a group of five tombs, the largest and deepest of which stood out, containing the bundle of a very important figure of the Moche elite, the Lady of Cao.

This is undoubtedly an absolutely unusual event in Peruvian archaeology, due to the biological sex of the individual, the presence of a bundle unaltered for hundreds of years, its extraordinary state of preservation, and the number of objects associated with his death.

The tomb, which would have been built after the Lady’s death around 500 AD, was found within this ceremonial space decorated with stylized representations of elements typical of the Mochica worldview.
The Lady of Cao’s funerary bundle was composed of three successive bundles. The entire bundle measured 181 cm long, 75 cm wide, and 42 cm thick; it weighed almost 120 kilos. Inside the tomb, the Lady of Cao’s bundle was accompanied by an adolescent male who had died by strangulation, who received minimal funerary treatment compared to that received by the main figure.