Calay News
Recently, in the Puno region of Peru, a pre-Hispanic mummy was discovered in a red thermal box belonging to the delivery company PedidosYa. The owner of the mummy, Julio César Bermejo, a 26-year-old man, had taken it out to show it to his friends. Bermejo claimed that the mummy spiritually takes care of him and that he even sleeps with it. Bermejo apparently inherited the mummy from his father thirty years ago; he obtained it after exchanging it with a police officer. The mummy is believed to be between 600 and 800 years old and belongs to the eastern part of Puno.
Bermejo stated that he wanted to donate the mummy to the Carlos Dreyer Museum in Puno but that the process was too complicated. Although Bermejo denied any intention to sell the mummy, possession and transport of any cultural heritage item without authorization are considered crimes. The mummy is now in the custody of the Ministry of Culture, and Bermejo could face up to five years in prison for the illegal transport of the mummy.
In addition, it was determined that the mummy was not a woman, as Bermejo had originally believed, but a man. Bermejo had referred to the mummy as Juanita and thought it was a priestess of about 25 years of age. The authenticity of the body has been verified by an archaeologist.
