World News for Students of English

30-11-2015 07:00

Archaeologists working in the shadow of Peruvian capital Lima have uncovered the remains of three adult women and one man dating from between ad 1000 and ad 1418.

The find was made at Huaca Pucllana the site of a great clay pyramid thought to have been built around ad 500. Researchers say the female skeletons were buried in a squatting position along with ceramics, cotton fabrics and sewing tools, suggesting that the women were weavers. Archaeologist Louisa Martinez said the tombs appeared to be of the Ichma culture, a culture that predates the Incan Empire.

She says, ”We’re standing before an archaeological tomb with characteristics of the Ichma culture that existed between the years of ad 1000 and ad 1450. These are the first Ichma tombs discovered in the Huaca Pucllana.”

Archaeologists say the discovery has shed new light on the Ichma people and how they buried their dead.

Difficult words: AD (= Anno Domini = “in the year of our Lord” – after the birth of Jesus), squat (to sit with your knees bent under you and your bottom just off the ground, balancing on your feet), tomb (a structure where a dead person is buried), predate (to come before), shed light on something (to reveal something about something, to explain).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com