Paracas National Reserve - Julio C Tello Museum

(Local Name: Museo Julio C. Tello) Just 2 km inside the entrance gate to the Reserva Nacional de Paracas, is the information center and the Museo Julio C Tello. Julio Tello was a Peruvian archeologist who, in 1925, discovered some 400 mummies at what is now called the Paracas Necropolis. The mummies were wrapped in some of the finest pre-Colombian textiles ever found in Peru. Unfortunately, the museum was robbed a few years ago and some of the best pieces were stolen.

On display at the Museo Julio C. Tello are weavings, ceramics, skulls and bones. The skulls are interesting, revealing that the Paracas practiced trepanation. This procedure involved cutting out an area of the skull, probably to treat mental disorders. Some of those subjected to this practice survived as is evident from these skulls.