Smuggeling Mummies

secured skull of a precolumbian mummy
(télam via diario uno)

As the Argentinian newspaper Diario uno reports on Friday 27.5. 2011 Argentinian Administración Federal de Ingresos Públicos (AFIP) secured a complete mummy and three skulls. They were identified within a postal parcel claiming to contain replicas of Peruvian pottery. It was mailed at La Paz in Bolivia and adressed to an Argentinian private. According to AFIP the archaeological finds come from Southern Peru and were intended for European museums and private collectors which are especially interested in the textiles wrapped around the mummies.
One of the skulls shows a healed trepanation, the others show intentionally deformation. They are attributed to the pre-Inca culture of Paracas. More detailed information on the archaeological context especially on their social status is lost. They would have been important for a historical interpretation of these remains.