1,300-year-old throne room — for a ‘powerful woman’ — unearthed in Peru. See it

Brushing away centuries of accumulated dirt, archaeologists in Peru painstakingly unearthed an ancient throne room, complete with a throne for a “powerful woman” and colorful decorations. Photos show the first-of-its-kind find.

A joint team of Peruvian and U.S. archaeologists returned to Pañamarca this past summer for another season of excavations , according to a Sept. 24 news release from Pañamarca Digital, a research program dedicated to the site.

Pañamarca is a “monumental center” built by the ancient Moche culture who flourished “in the coastal valleys of northern Peru between about 350 and 850” A.D., archaeologists said. The site is known for its “colorful wall paintings.”

This year, archaeologists focused on excavating a hall with decorated walls — and the results surprised them.

The team uncovered a decorated adobe throne and several murals showing a woman wearing a crown and sitting on a throne. They identified the space as a 1,300-year-old throne room “of a powerful Moche woman associated with the moon goddess.”

Photos show the ancient throne adorned with “images related to the sea and the night sky, including a crowned woman with a rattle rendered as the crescent moon,” archaeologists said. The throne’s sides showed “figures of women spinning fiber.”

Archaeologists also noticed signs of use on the throne’s backrest, demonstrating “it was used for substantial periods of time during the 600s.”

Four murals on the nearby walls and pillars showed a “powerful woman” sitting on a throne and “receiving visitors in procession,” researchers said and photos show.

Excavations also uncovered “greenstone beads, fine threads, and even human hair” in the first-of-its-kind throne room.

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“The evidence all points to a seventh-century woman leader of Pañamarca,” archaeologists said. “A throne room for a queen has never been seen before at Pañamarca, nor anywhere else in ancient Peru.”

“Pañamarca continues to surprise us, not only for the ceaseless creativity of its painters but also because their works are overturning our expectations of gender roles in the ancient Moche world,” Lisa Trever, a professor at Columbia University, said in the release.

Excavations also found another “monumental structure,” dubbed the “Hall of the Braided Serpents” because of its unique “paintings of intertwining serpents with human legs,” archaeologists said.

“Perched above the plaza, this hall offered a prominent position — almost like box seats at a theater or stadium — from which to observe the goings-on down below, while it also provided private spaces for its privileged occupants,” Michele Koons, an archaeologist with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, said in the release.

The team hopes to continue excavations next year.

The Pañamarca archaeological site is near Capellania, a coastal town in northern Peru, and a roughly 250-mile drive northwest of Lima.

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