‘600-800 year old’ mummy found in ex-delivery man’s cooler bag

Peruvian police announced Tuesday, February 28, having seized a pre-Hispanic mummy in the insulated bag of a former home delivery man. Julio Cesar Bermejo, 26, was remanded in custody. Police discovered the mummy curled up in its bag on Saturday during a check in a park in Puno, in the Peruvian Andes.

In a video that has gone viral on social media, Julio Cesar Bermejo explained to a local journalist that the mummy, “affectionately” named “Juanita”has been preserved since “almost thirty years” in his family home. According to him, she had been picked up by her father from a policeman who owed her money. “At home, she’s in my room, she sleeps with me. I take care of her, I keep her, she’s like my spiritual girlfriend”added the young man.

The remains of a man at least 45 years old

However, according to the Ministry of Culture, “it’s not Juanita, it’s Juan”. This “prehispanic cultural property”estimated between “600 and 800 years”has indeed been identified as that of“a mummified adult male, presumably from the eastern part of Puno”. According to a rapid analysis of the cranial box, it would be the body of a man of at least 45 years old.

Julio Cesar Bermejo denied having wanted to sell the mummy, and claimed to carry it in his insulated backpack to show it to his “friends” before donating it to a local museum. The Ministry of Culture has “immediately ordered seizure” mummified remains, “in order to protect and preserve the heritage”.