Man found carrying around a mummified corpse up to 800 years old in a food delivery bag in Peru

Patrick Smith and Sara Mhaidli
·2 min read
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A mummified corpse up to 800 years old was found in a food delivery bag in Peru, authorities in the South American country have said.

Photos released by the Directorate of Culture in the southeastern city of Puno show a skeleton in the fetal position, lying in a red bag with a reflective inner lining, commonly used by food delivery companies. It bears the logo of Pedidos Ya, a Uruguayan takeout company popular across South America.

The police is investigating a young man and his friends after they were found with a mummified body, transported in a cooler box. (Peruvian Ministry of Culture)
The police is investigating a young man and his friends after they were found with a mummified body, transported in a cooler box. (Peruvian Ministry of Culture)

The directorate said in a statement Sunday, Feb. 26 that the body of “an adult mummified male individual,” with a “relative chronology of 600 to 800 years old,” was discovered during a joint operation with the Peru National Police.

The body has become a property of the state under national heritage laws.

Local media company Noticias Sin Filtro Puno TV published an interview with Julio Cesar, who said the body belonged to him.

Peru mummy found in delivery box. (AFP - Getty Images)
Peru mummy found in delivery box. (AFP - Getty Images)

“It sleeps in my bedroom, with me. There’s my bed, the TV set and next to it, there’s Juanita. I take care of it. It’s like, if you’ll pardon the expression, as if it were my spiritual girlfriend.” he told the media outlet, using the name he has for the body.

Scans later found that the body is, in fact, that of a male, a Juan, not a Juanita.

Cesar had been taken into custody, the AFP news agency reported. The Peruvian newspaper Diario Cajamarca Noticias reported that the body was in the possession of Cesar’s family and that he had taken it out to show his friends.

Later scans reveal the condition of the mummified body, believed to be a male. (Peruvian Ministry of Culture)
Later scans reveal the condition of the mummified body, believed to be a male. (Peruvian Ministry of Culture)

The Peruvian Culture Ministry urged people to assist “in the defense and protection of our precious heritage, communicating to us any finding or attack on movable or immovable cultural heritage.”

NBC News has contacted the Peruvian National Police for comment.

Peru is rich with archaeological discoveries and boasts the ancient city of Machu Picchu, which was reopened two weeks ago after weeks of anti-government protests.

This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com