The skeletons of the children were wrapped in fabric and buried alongside a nobleman, who may have been a prominent political person. The aristocrat, who was roughly 20 years old when he died, was buried with his hands concealing his face and tied up by a rope. The tomb was discovered near Cajamarquilla, some 24 kilometers (15 miles) east of Lima.

It was around three meters long (9.8 feet) and 1.4 meters deep.

The youngsters are likely to have been sacrificed by pre-Inca dwellers of the Andes around 1000-1,200 years ago.

In November 2021, the discovery was made.

Sacrifices were utilized as a ritual by ancient Peruvian civilizations such as the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas, with the notion that they were transporting the dead people into the "land of the dead."

It was also believed that sacrificing adults, and sometimes even children, as appears to be the case here, would appease their wrathful gods while frightening their foes.

"The children could be close relatives and were positioned... in different places of the entrance to the tomb of the (nobleman's) mummy, one on top of the other," said archaeologist Pieter Van Dalen, who headed the dig.

"According to our working hypothesis, the children would have been sacrificed to accompany the mummy to the underworld."

"It appears that all of these people were sacrificed to accompany the mummy, the mummy's soul on the path of death to the final destination, according to the Andean populations' ideology."

"We uncovered another 13 bodies [funerary bundles] of humans, six of which are youngsters, concerning the tomb of the mummy of Cajamarquilla discovered in November 2021."

The scientists also unearthed the non-mummified bones of seven people.

They also discovered the carcasses of animals that resembled llamas.

Cajamarquilla was a mud-built city that existed circa 200 BC.

This was the pre-Inca period, which lasted until around 1500AD.

It is believed that the city was abandoned several hundred years before the Spanish conquest due to a succession of natural disasters like earthquakes, as well as the effects of climate change, which rendered it uninhabitable.

Cajamarquilla, often known as the "Dead City," can be found in the modern-day district of San Juan de Lurigancho.

The Wari people are supposed to have erected an archaeological complex here approximately 500 AD, comprising ancient homes made of mud pyramids, temples, walls, and roadways.

It is one of the most significant archaeological sites in the vicinity of Peru's capital.

It may have had a population of 10,000-20,000 people.

The Wari people were noted for their intricately woven fabrics and exquisitely crafted pottery.

They also constructed roadways that aided in the formation of regions of the Inca Empire.