"Mysteries of the ancient World"

"Peruvian Mummy"


This well-preserved mummy was removed from an ancient Inca cemetery located just outside Peru's capital, Lima. The site, adjacent to Puruchuco-Huaquerones, the largest Inca cemetery ever found, yielded dozens of human remains and artifacts dating back more than 500 years. The mummies were bundled in textile cocoons containing one or more adults or children.

"VALLEY OF THE KINGS,EGYPT"

The Pyramids of Giza and the Nile Delta were the tombs of choice for pharaohs of Egypt's Old Kingdom. But New Kingdom pharaohs, seeking to foil tomb raiders and be closer to the source of their dynastic roots in southern Egypt, created what's known now as the Valley of the Kings.

Deep inside the hills of this otherwise barren valley west of Luxor (seen here from above) sit the tombs of nearly all the pharaohs who ruled between 1539 and 1078 B.C. Their strategy in the end did not confound thieves, though, and almost all of the tombs had been ransacked by the time archaeologists began excavating the site in the early 1800s.

"TERRA-COTTA WARRIORS TOMB"

Platoons of clay soldiers were buried with China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di, to accompany him during his eternal rest. These life-size figures, shown here during excavation at the emperor's burial complex near the city of Xi'an in China's Shaanxi Province, are more than 2,200 years old.

The tomb, which extends over 22 square miles (57 square kilometers) and is said to have required a labor force of 700,000 to build, was discovered by a group of peasants digging a well in 1974.

"ROME CATACOMBS"

Catacombs such as these were carved over hundreds of years beginning in the second century A.D. from soft rock beneath the outskirts of Rome. The labyrinthine corridors of these underground cemeteries cover hundreds of acres and house the remains of hundreds of thousands of mainly Christians but also Jews.

At the time, burials were not permitted within Rome, and land outside the city was expensive. Several Christian landowners, however, allowed access to their property for the underground burials, and thus the catacombs came into being. Christians have also used the sites for worship and to celebrate the anniversaries of their martyrs.

"SIVA LINGA"

A Siva Linga stands amid the ornate walls of the Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia. These short, cylindrical pillars are worshipped throughout the Hindu world as symbols of the god Shiva.