Mummified head and arm, Peruvian, 800-1400

Made:: 800-1400 in Peru

Mummified head and arm, Peruvian, central coast region, 800-1400

This preserved head and arm was purchased on behalf of Henry Wellcome’s Historical Medical Museum from a London auction house in 1923. It is not currently known if they belonged to the same or two separate individuals. According to the auction catalogue, they were found in the Ancón valley archaeological site on the central coast of Peru, but further research is needed to confirm their cultural and geographical origins.

Details

Category:: Ethnography and Folk Medicine

Collection:: Sir Henry Wellcome's Museum Collection

Object Number:: A25554

Materials:: flesh and bone

Measurements:: head: 150 mm x 150 mm
arm: 340 mm

type:: human remains, mummified head and arm

credit:: Wellcome Trust

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Parts

Mummified head, Peruvian, 800-1400

Mummified head, Peruvian, central coast region, 800-1400

This preserved head was purchased on behalf of Henry Wellcome’s Historical Medical Museum from a London auction house in 1923, along with an mummified arm. It is not currently known if they belonged to the same or two separate individuals. According to the auction catalogue, they were found in the Ancón valley archaeological site on the central coast of Peru, but further research is needed to confirm their cultural and geographical origins.

Measurements:: overall: 150 mm x 150 mm

Materials:: bone and flesh

Object Number:: A25554/1

type:: human remains , mummified head and arm

Mummified arm, Peruvian, 800-1400

Mummified arm, tattoos present on the back of the hand and the forearm, Peruvian, central coast region, 800-1400

This preserved arm was purchased on behalf of Henry Wellcome’s Historical Medical Museum from a London auction house in 1923, along with a mummified head. It is not currently known if they belonged to the same or two separate individuals. According to the auction catalogue, they were found in the Ancón valley archaeological site on the central coast of Peru, but further research is needed to confirm their cultural and geographical origins.

In 2024, infrared photography revealed intricate tattoos on the back of the hand and the forearm that are largely invisible to the naked eye. The motifs of diagonal squares, serrated pyramids, and stylised birds are consistent with tattoos found on mummified human remains of the Late Intermediate Period (1000–1450) from Peru’s central coast. They would have taken considerable time and effort to achieve, indicating that they had strong spiritual and cultural significance to the people who created them.