- A 26-year-old man was caught with an ancient mummy in his delivery bag in Peru.
- The man said the mummy was his “spiritual girlfriend” and that he shared a bedroom with it.
- The mummy is believed to be an adult male who died between 600 and 800 years ago.
Police had a surprise when they searched a young man who was caught drunk with two of his friends at an archaeological site in Puno, western Peru.
They found one in his cooler bag ancient mummy believed to be 600 to 800 years oldcrouched in the fetal position.
The 26-year-old, called Julio Cesar Bermejo by the news channel France24, called the mummy his “spiritual girlfriend,” whom he said he had named Juanita.
‘At home she is in my room, she sleeps with me. I take care of her,” he said in a video, according to AFP.
Authorities, which have since examined the mummy, have concluded that the remains belong to a 4 foot 11 inch tall 45 year old man who died between 600 and 800 years ago.
“It’s not a Juanita, it’s a Juan,” a specialist from Peru’s Ministry of Culture told France 24.
Bermejo claimed that he was given the mummy by his father and that it had been in his family for over 30 years. It is not clear where his father would have obtained the mummy, according to AFP.
Bermejo said he kept the mummy in a box in his bedroom, next to his television.
Bermejo added that he brought the mummy to the archaeological site to show it off to his friends, according to France24. He denied trying to sell the mummy, according to France 24.
According to the BBC, Bermejo and his two friends are being held while police investigate possible crimes against Peru’s cultural heritage.
Mummification was common in ancient Peru before Spanish colonization. The body was mummified and bound a fetal positionwhich was a common burial practice at the time.
Mummies were often placed in tombs above the ground were easy to loot and often lootedan expert previously told Insider.
