8 pre-Inca mummies and artifacts unearthed just beneath the streets of Lima, Peru

While installing new gas lines just beneath the busy streets of Lima, Peru, utility workers unearthed an unexpected archaeological bounty: eight pre-Inca mummies and a wealth of artifacts.

The mummies, which were buried in a seated position, were wrapped in funeral bales made of cotton cloth and tied with ropes braided from liana, a woody vine that grows in rainforests. Archaeologists think the mummies were part of a pre-Inca culture known as the Ichma (also spelled Ychma) that incorporated into the Inca Empire in the 15th century, according to the Associated Press.