After 1,700 years, meet the Lady of Cao
Print Edition
INTRODUCING the Lady of Cao: using high-tech 3D printing and based on the skull of an ancient mummy, scientists have reconstructed the face of a woman who governed in northern Peru 1,700 years ago.
The woman’s mummified remains were discovered at the Cao Viejo adobe pyramid in 2006 in the Chicama Valley, just north of the modern city of Trujillo.
“Technology allows us to see the face of a political, religious and cultural leader of the past,” Culture Minister Salvador del Solar said when he unveiled a life-like bust of the woman yesterday in Lima.
The woman, dubbed the Lady of Cao, belonged to the Moche culture that thrived in the northern coastal region between 100 and 800 AD. She had been buried with metal items and wooden scepters wrapped in copper symbolizing the power she wielded when she was alive.
Archeologists say she is the first known female governor in Peru. Until she was found, experts did not believe women had any governing or religious authority in pre-Hispanic Peru.
Scientists took 10 months to replicate the woman’s face by analyzing her skull structure and comparing it with pictures of women in Magdalena de Cao, the nearest town. Tattoos are still visible on the mummy, which was also on display.
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