Oct 29, 2024 - World
Smile to go: A civilization run by women
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Elements of a throne room recently discovered in Pañamarca, Peru. Source: via Telemundo
New discoveries in Peru point to a pre-Incan civilization that was probably ruled by women.
State of play: Most Mesoamerican civilizations had male rulers, even if they had important female deities.
- But a recent discovery of a throne room seemingly dedicated to a matriarch in Pañamarca, an archeological site in northwest Peru, indicates that was not the case for the Moche society that existed a millennia ago.
- Archeologists unveiled murals depicting a queen, which they've been calling Lady of Cao, and that fits with the discovery more than two decades ago of a female skull mummified in a position of honor.
What they're saying: This is "iconography that has not been seen before in the pre-Hispanic world," archeologist José Ochatoma told Reuters.
