Walking into the dark quiet room, I knew I had entered a sacred space. People spoke in hushed tones as they neared the sarcophagus. A darkly tinted glass shielded the precious body on the other side, yet allowed us to see her clearly. Here lay the remains of the Lady Cao, a woman who wielded enormous power within a powerful ancient Peruvian culture known as the Moche.
A view of the sarcophagus surrounded by gold treasures 
The mummified Lady Cao
Lady Cao lived in El Brujo near the present-day city of Trujillo, Peru sometime between 300 and 450 AD. The Cao Museum, which houses the Lady, sits within the El Brujo Archaeological Complex. Before visiting the museum, I toured the active archaeological dig site just up the hill. Set in a dusty landscape not far from the Pacific Ocean, El Brujo (which means “The Sorcerer or Shaman”) dates back 5,000 years with its most recent inhabitants living there in the Ninth Century AD. Three pyramids exist on the site, but since 1990 archaeologists have focused primarily on one, Huaca Cao Viejo, a religious structure whose oldest layer was built in the First Century AD. Like Egyptian pyramids, this structure also served as a burial chamber for high leaders. Archaeologists found the tombs of a number of Moche rulers at this site; Lady Cao’s was the last to be discovered in 2005.
Lady Cao Museum 
El Brujo Archaeological Complex
The Moche constructed the huaca’s stepped pyramid and large ceremonial plaza with thousands of sand-colored adobe bricks. Colorful wall murals, both realistic and geometric, adorned the walls. Walking through the site, I marveled at the intricate artwork. I couldn’t help thinking about the artists who, over a thousand years ago, painted these depictions of their culture and their beliefs, often in terrifying detail. The murals portrayed fish, animals, gods, and human activities, including offerings, rituals, battles, and human sacrifices. In one long mural a line of sacrificial victims, perhaps soldiers of a tribe conquered by war or Moche peasants chosen for the “honor,” walked single file toward their deaths. Another mural, restored in vivid colors, presented layers of symbology: warriors and prisoners, monkeys, snakes, and a frightening figure known as “the decapitator.”
The burial chamber of Lady Cao contained highly decorative images of condors, snakes, and fish from the ocean and rivers. When archaeologist Régulo Franco Jordán found the mummified Lady Cao, she was wrapped in twenty-six layers of cloth, including several layers of fine clothing. The wealth of objects — crowns, jewelry, and weapons — found with her attested to her elite status. The remains of a sacrificed teenage girl were found as well. Perhaps, the girl was intended to serve her mistress in the afterlife. Jordán reported that he was especially surprised at finding weapons and that he had never seen such a complete array of objects before in a Moche tomb.
Since her discovery, a team of archaeologists, anthropologists, dentists, forensic artists, and engineers, have conducted a wide range of examinations and analyses to understand who Lady Cao was and how she lived. They estimated her age at death to have been 25 to 30 years old. She died during or immediately after childbirth of eclampsia. She was approximately 4-foot, 10-inches tall, and suffered from an abscessed wisdom tooth. Hair samples showed that she ate primarily corn and seafood. The presence of complex tattoos on her body, with figures of snakes and spiders and other elements linked to the magical-religious rituals of the Moche, confirmed that Lady Cao engaged in deeply spiritual activities as a high priestess or healer.
Using the latest forensic technology, scientists created a 3D likeness of Lady Cao. To the 3D renderings of her skeleton, they added muscle and skin. To determine skin, hair, and eye coloring for the model, anthropologists photographed women in the immediate vicinity of Cao (descendants of the Moche people). The result is a strikingly attractive young woman, whom I could easily imagine running into on the streets of Trujillo.
I’m continually astonished to learn just how young archaeology in the Americas is compared to that of Europe, Africa, and Asia. Each year, archaeologists make startling new discoveries that reframe our understanding of the “New World.” They have uncovered civilizations far more sophisticated in far earlier times than they previously thought possible. I hope that Lady Cao’s discovery triggers a reassessment of the role women played in American societies once assumed to be run totally by men.