Chauchilla Cemetery, Archaeological burial site in Nasca Province, Peru

Chauchilla Cemetery is a prehispanic burial ground 30 km south of Nazca, by the Poroma riverbed. Its tombs are built from mud bricks, and the bodies inside were clothed in embroidered cotton, painted with a resin, and placed in these purpose-built chambers. Many still show hair and soft tissue.

The site began as a burial place in ancient times and was used by different cultures across many generations. The people buried here lived during a period spanning from around 200 AD to about 900 AD in this region.

The name Chauchilla comes from the Quechua word for the area. The dead were not eviscerated; bodies were clothed in embroidered cotton, painted with resin, and placed in mud-brick tombs. Some skulls show trepanation, and cinnabar was applied to parts of the body during rituals honoring ancestors.

The cemetery sits south of Nazca and is accessed via an unpaved road that can be traveled on foot or by vehicle. The best time to visit is early morning or late afternoon, when the sun is less intense and walking conditions are more comfortable.

The bodies here still rest in the same positions as they were placed more than a thousand years ago, thanks to the extreme dryness that naturally mummified them. This environment allowed even fragile items like pottery and cloth to survive largely intact to the present day.