The remains, most of which were found in May 2008 at a site called Salapunku, probably date to 500 to 550 years ago, said Francisco Huarcaya, the site’s lead researcher.

Due to extensive looting, however, as much as 75 percent of the fabrics found wrapped around the remains are in "bad shape," Huarcaya said.

"The head and shoulder bones are seen first, because the Inca buried their dead [sitting] in the fetal position," he explained.

Tombs and Textiles

The modest funerary wrappings, made of vegetable fiber, and the simple grave objects, including unadorned ceramics, suggest that the dead unearthed at Salapunku were peasant farmers, Huarcaya said. Weavers have been found accompanied by their weaving baskets, balls of thread, looms, and textiles, according to Guillermo Cock, an expert on Andean cultures.

Human remains are rare near Machu Picchu, and the wet mountain climate makes textiles uncommon finds, said Cock, who was not part of the research team.

"Finding organic material in the mountains is significant because it’s so scarce," he said. "The humidity from rain decomposes individuals and textiles."

Analysis of the bones should also reveal age at death, sex, cause of death, diet, and perhaps even the dead’s occupations, Astete added.

"We should be able to tell whether these people carried large burdens to help construct terraces, for example. Their bones will be bent, not straight. They will have deformities," he explained.

"Bones will also tell us about their diets and diseases. A fracture would reveal an accident."

The burial of human remains held special significance for the Inca, added Huarcaya, the lead researcher.

"The remains in tombs are like the guardians of the population in Andean ideology," he said. "For [ancient Andeans], death does not exist."

Machu Picchu Revealed

Built around 1460, the city of Machu Picchu seems to have been abandoned after the Spanish conquest in the 1500s, though it was never found by the conquerors.

Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham brought Machu Picchu to worldwide attention after local Indians led him to the site in 1911.