Elite 5,000 year-old woman's tomb unearthed in coastal Peru

Archaeologists in coastal Peru have discovered the 5,000-year-old remains of a woman who may have belonged to the upper echelons of the ancient Caral civilisation, a find they say points to the importance of women in the city some five millennia earlier.

Caral, located some 180 km (112 miles) up the Pacific coast from Lima, is considered the oldest city in the Americas and would have been inhabited at the same time as ancient Egyptian, Chinese and Sumerian civilisations - though unlike these, researchers say it developed in complete isolation.

Aspero, the area in the Caral site where the tomb was found, was formerly used as a municipal dump.

"This is an important burial because it has elements that correspond to a woman of high status," archaeologist David Palomino told Reuters on Thursday, pointing to the way the corpse was wrapped and preservation of her skin, hair and nails.

The body of the woman, who would have died at around 20 to 35 years of age, was found with a mantle of blue and brown feathers that could come from an Amazonian bird such as a macaw, he said, adding the tomb was surrounded by baskets with offerings, vases, gourds and a toucan's beak.

Palomino said the finding showed that "not only men had an important association in this civilisation, but this was also complementary with that of women."

Though researchers do not know the exact date of the burial, the Caral civilisation was active around 3,000 B.C.