(24 Aug 2017) Peruvian archaeologists have discovered in a sacred pre-Incan site the bodies of 16 men from China who arrived to South America almost two centuries ago as semi-enslaved workers.
The secret tomb in Lima is the biggest burial site of Chinese migrants ever found in Peru and was presented Thursday to journalists.
Found alongside the bony remains were opium pipes and other personal objects used by the migrants.
The Ministry of Culture discovered the bodies of 16 Chinese workers who migrated to Peru at the top of Huaca Bellavista site, said Roxana Gomez, director of the ministry's Bellavista project.
The bodies were found in the sacred area of a civilisation called "Ichma" that flourished before being conquered by the Incas in 1470.
Gomez said the Chinese migrants are believed to have worked in semi-slavery conditions in an agricultural farm on the Pacific coast.
Five of the 16 human remains were found in coffins, while others were wrapped in fabric, Gomez said.
One of the coffins had a pipe with a blue and white porcelain cup believed to be used in the smoking of opium.
"This is somehow telling us about a certain status among them because those who are buried in coffins must have had a slightly higher status," Gomez said.
Gomez said the bodies were likely buried from 1870 to 1890.
As many as 100,000 Chinese migrants arrived to Peru in the second half of the 19th century and for little pay performed back-breaking work on farms, building railroads and removing guano, which is bird excrement coveted as fertiliser.
The Chinese were discriminated against even in death, having to be buried in the pre-Incan sites after being barred from cemeteries reserved for Roman Catholics.
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