In addition to the bones of a man, archaeologists found a long stick with hanging bells and other metal objects inside a wooden coffin during recent excavations of a pre-Inca Moche tomb. The objects inside the coffin were in disarray, indicating that the man had been carried to the ceremonial burial grounds from afar well after his death, the archaeologists said in September 2009.
The stick with bells seems to match a rattle carried by a man depicted in Moche art known as Aia Paec, or "Wrinkle Face." This central figure in burial scenes is often shown lowering a coffin into a tomb alongside another human-like character named Iguana.
"It seems then that all of these figures are related and connected. They clearly are part of a more complex liturgy that is composed of many different things," said lead archaeologist Castillo Butters.