３０００年前の神官の墓発見　ペルー・パコパンパ遺跡

【リマＡＦＰ＝時事】日本とペルーの考古学研究グループが、ペルーの首都リマの北方９００キロにあるパコパンパ遺跡で３０００年前の神官の墓を発見した。調査団のメンバーが２６日、ＡＦＰに明らかにした。（写真はペルー北部カハマルカのパコパンパ遺跡で発見された３０００年前の神官の墓。ペルー文化省提供）
　パコパンパ遺跡では、日本の国立民族学博物館とペルーの国立サンマルコス大学が合同で調査を行っている。
　考古学者のフアン・パブロ・ビジャヌエバ氏は「発見したのは最近」だとし、今回見つかった神官は「アンデスで最初の神官の一人」で、墓は「埋葬された時から手付かず」だと話した。
　墓は直径３メートルの円形で、深さ１メートル。遺骨は、下肢の一部を曲げた姿勢で埋葬されていた。遺骨と供物は、少なくとも６層の灰と土で覆われ、墓の西側からは小さな陶器の鉢や、骨を彫ったへら状の道具の他、人の顔やジャガーの顔が施された印章も二つ発掘されたという。
　この遺跡で１８年にわたり調査に携わってきた考古学者、関雄二氏はＡＦＰに対し、アンデス北部の寺院を統括し始めた最初の神官の一人とみられ、今回の発見は非常に重要だと指摘した。
　研究者の間では、墓の主は紀元前１０００年ごろの神官とみられている。関氏は、有力な指導者がこの時代に既にアンデスにいたことを示す証拠になると語った。
　調査団は昨年９月にも、「プトゥトスの神官」と呼ばれる宗教指導者の３０００年以上前の墓を発見している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/08/28-16:35）

A group of Japanese and Peruvian archaeologists have discovered the 3,000-year-old tomb of a priest alongside ceramic offerings in northern Peru.
We have recently discovered the tomb of a 3,000-year-old figure at the Pacopampa archaeological site, in the Cajamarca region, 900 kilometers (560 miles) north of Lima, archaeologist Juan Pablo Villanueva told AFP on Saturday.
He is one of the first priests in the Andes to have a series of offerings, the researcher said, adding that the funerary context is intact.
The body, its lower extremities partially flexed, was oriented from south to north. On the western side of the tomb were small spherical ceramic bowls, a carved bone spatula and other offerings.
Two seals were also found, one with designs of an anthropomorphic face and the other with that of a jaguar.
The body and the offerings were covered by at least six layers of ash and earth. The tomb is circular, three meters in diameter and one meter deep (10 feet by 3.3 feet).
- Powerful leaders -
The find is extremely important because he is one of the first priests to begin to control the temples in the country's northern Andes, Japanese archaeologist Yuji Seki, who has been working at the site for 18 years, told AFP.
Researchers estimate that the priest lived around 1,000 BC.
Seki said the find helped demonstrate that even that long ago, powerful leaders had appeared in the Andes.
In September 2022, the same group of archaeologists had discovered the tomb, more than 3,000 years old, of a man they called the Priest of the Pututos, along with musical instruments made of seashells.
Pututos or pututus are conch-like shells that the inhabitants of ancient Peru could use to make trumpet-like sounds.
The Pacopampa site, at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,200 feet), includes nine monumental ceremonial buildings of carved and polished stone.
Other burials found in the same site include those of the Lady of Pacopampa, found in 2009, and of two Jaguar Serpent priests, discovered in 2015.
They are estimated to date from around 700 to 600 years BC.
Archaeologists from the National Museum of Ethnology in Japan and from Peru's National University of San Marcos participate in the work in Pacopampa.