Pre-Inca cinnabar mine discovered in Trujillo
|Archaeologists at the entrance to a pre-hispanic mine near the Campana hill at Trujillo [Credit: Peruvian Times]|
One of the unique features was that, besides being magnificently decorated in glittering nose rings, crowns and necklaces, her skin was delicately tattooed with drawings of snakes, fish and other figures, which led to her nickname of the Tattooed Lady.
Franco believed the tattoos had been made with cinnabar brought from areas much further south, such as the Andean highlands of Huancavelica.
But his discovery this month of a pre-Inca mine near Trujillo leads him to now believe that the cinnabar or mercury sulfide was obtained locally.
The mine, with malachite crystals and mercury ore and mercury sulfide, is accessible from the western slope of Cerro Portachuelo, within the protected area of Cerro Campana, a hill outside Trujillo considered sacred by the Moche.
The mine entrance has a first space of some 7 meters before the beginning of a tunnel. The archaeologists have found potsherds and bone fragments that would indicate the mine was used by the Moche. The mine has not been explored further because of the noxious gases.
Source: Peruvian Times [June 22, 2012]