Virú Gold Funerary Offerings

Room 12, Vitrine 152

Metal
Peruvian Northern Coast
Formative Epoch (1250 BC – 1 AD)
ML100263, ML100488-ML100495, ML100520-ML100525

These adornments belonged to funerary offerings found in Virú tombs, and they are among the oldest gold objects found in northern Peru.

In some tombs ingots or sheets of gold were also placed in the mouth and hands of the deceased, as part of the funerary rites.

Crown decorated with gold strips; gold plume-like headdresses; gold earrings; gold nose ornament; gold necklaces; gold ingots; sheets of gold.