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Science News

Thousands of Inca Mummies Unearthed 31

Posted by michael from the b-movie-fodder dept.
kgarcia writes "National Geographic has an article about one of the most important archeological discoveries about the Incas in recent times. As much as 10,000 mummies were discovered in an ancient Incan graveyard, in cocoons containing as much as 7 mummies per bundle."
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Thousands of Inca Mummies Unearthed More

Thousands of Inca Mummies Unearthed

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  • Oh man... (Score:3, Funny)

    by misfit13b ( 572861 ) on Wednesday April 17, 2002 @04:19PM (#3360947)
    And how many do they have to finally dig up in order to conclude this research? From what I read they sounded like they were intending to uproot a lot of these folks. You'd think they'd have to have SOME respect for the dead, no? But I do have to admit, lines like this one were pretty funny: "Preservation conditions are so good, we can determine the sex of people simply by looking at their genitals," said Cock.

    • Re:Oh man... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by the phantom ( 107624 )
      It also sounds as though there is some major construction going on down there. Even in the US, where we have laws like ARPA (Archaeological Resource Protection Act) and the NHPA (National Historic Preservation Act), construction projects, mining, and agriculture tend to be considered more important than archaeology (or "respect for the dead"). They may be moving a lot of bodies, but there are two choices:
      1) move those bodies, then study them and perhaps reinter them somewhere OR
      2) let the bulldozers destroy the lot.

      Which would you choose?

      • Re:Oh man... (Score:2, Informative)

        by Skoshi ( 573020 )
        There are similar problems in most sites they find mummies or tombs at lately. In Alexandria, Egypt they had only a few weeks to excavate and save what they could from catacombs unearthed while building a bridge. As far as respect for the dead goes, mummification studies have come a long way since unwrapping parties in the early 1900's. Now scientists can study the remains via X-rays, CAT scans, endoscopy, and other non-destructive processes. After that, some of the more unusual mummies will probably be kept for further study, but a lot may be re-interred. Even if they didn't want to rebury at least some of the bodies, there is simply not enough funds, experts, or supplies available to keep them preserved.

  • Help! (Score:2, Funny)

    by fm6 ( 162816 )
    Buffy!!!!! [buffyguide.com]
    • Heh. I posted "Danger, Xander Harris, Danger!!" to alt.tv.buffy-v-slayer, warning Xander not to hook up with any sexy sultry rebound chicks post Anya.

      --
      Evan

  • Thousands of Universal movie scripts unearthed (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Despite being old, dusty, and smelling funny, executives at Universal expressed delight at the find, saying the next generation of the corporate franchise [themummy.com] would go into production immediately.
  • So, this guy's nick name is really Willy Cock?!
  • Oh well, there's no helping it. Lemme hop into my little schoolmarm outfit.

    Ahem. Use as many as when referring to countable nouns, as much as when referring to uncountable ones. For example:

    "As many as 10,000 mummies..."
    "... as many as 7 mummies per bundle..."

    rather than:

    "As much as 10,000 mummies..."
    "... as much as 7 mummies per bundle."

    Yup, those years of Catholic schooling left me with emotional and grammatical scars. (And the aforementioned fondness for schoolmarm outfits.)

    • Thx for the correction... English is not my first language...

      :)
    • is :"noooo... don't make me do it. " a complete sentence?
      • Yes, it is a complete sentence. It's in the imperative, with the subect "you" implied. The "noooo" should be capitalized, and have only one o, of course.
      • If one disregards the facts that I typed it in lower case, abused an ellipsis for dramatic effect, and generally went to town on the "o" key, sure it is.

        "No, don't make me do it." is a perfectly acceptable sentence written in the imperative mood [englishplus.com].

        Only reason I mentioned it in the first place -- I usually don't -- is that it pains me when /. editors don't take a second to proofread or fact check articles before posting them to the site as official content. (kgarcia already mentioned that English isn't his/her first language, so I'm certainly not trying to poke fun at him/her.)

  • About 40 of the large mummy bundles are topped with false heads, known to archaeologists as falsas cabezas.

    Well, no wonder... after all, that's exactly what "falsa cabeza" means.

    Anyway, it's GREAT news that this site has been found in time... but I can already see the logistical trouble in keeping in good shape thousands of mummies, let alone all their artifacts.
  • Wouldn't it be ironic if the 10,000 dead were killed by a plague and the virus had survived this long, only to wreak havok on the world?

    ...ok so it might suck a little.

  • 7 per bundle? (Score:2, Funny)

    by nytes ( 231372 )
    I didn't know they had nesting behavior.
  • They were looking for the most Dog-forsaken place when they turned up the Mummies. Steve Case was rather pissed.
  • why I want to be creamated, and not sealed into a metal tube:

    After the scientists have finished studying the recovered mummies and artifacts, they will be returned to the Puruchuco area for display in a museum.

    There really is an afterlife!!

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