And indeed, a new burial has been identified. On the funerary platform, evidence that a new tomb would be found included this platform of carob tree logs. During the 1980s excavations at Sipán, similar log platforms were discovered covering the elite tombs.
If this tomb follows the same patterns as those of the other tombs discovered at Sipán, the placement of roof beams such as these logs would have been the final step in the burial process. The funeral process identified for Tomb 1 at Sipán indicated that after the coffins carrying the elite and his entourage were set in place, the tomb was sealed by the construction of a beam roof only a little more than a meter above the floor of the tomb. The roof was then covered by soil. In both Tombs 1 and 2 at Sipán, additional burials were found in the fill above the main interments; that was not the case in this new tomb.
If this tomb follows the same patterns as those of the other tombs discovered at Sipán, the placement of roof beams such as these logs would have been the final step in the burial process. The funeral process identified for Tomb 1 at Sipán indicated that after the coffins carrying the elite and his entourage were set in place, the tomb was sealed by the construction of a beam roof only a little more than a meter above the floor of the tomb. The roof was then covered by soil. In both Tombs 1 and 2 at Sipán, additional burials were found in the fill above the main interments; that was not the case in this new tomb.
Source
Alva, Walter and Christopher B. Donnan. 1993. Royal Tombs of Sipan. Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles.
