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Daniel Giannoni

One of the things that amazed and delighted archaeologists was the excellent preservation of wooden artefacts in the imperial tomb. Some 1,200 years ago, a Wari artist carved a supernatural winged being on the handle of this weaver's spoon.

The newly discovered tomb contained many rare treasures, including this drinking cup carved from alabaster. It is the only such cup known from ancient Andean sites.

With eyes wide open, a painted Wari lord stares out from the side of a 1,200-year-old ceramic flask found with the remains of a Wari queen. Giersz and his colleagues think the Wari may have displayed the body of the queen after death in a royal ancestor cult.