Burials holding mummies with false heads have been discovered from the Wari Empire in Peru. Archaeologists in Peru have unearthed the burials of at least 73 people dating to around 1,000 years ago, a few hundred years before the Inca took over parts of western South America.

Each of the 73 individuals was bundled in fabric — some of it colorful — and rope. Some of the male and female bodies were buried wearing masks of carved wood and ceramic, which are known as “false heads,” Krzysztof Makowski, head of archaeological research at the site and an archaeologist at ​​the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, said in a post on Archeowieści blog, which is managed by the Faculty of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw. Colorful ceramics were also found in some of the graves.