A group of Chilean schoolchildren got the thrill of lifetime during an archeology field trip when it discovered a 7,000-year-old mummy over the weekend, reports La Tercera.
The mummy was found on El Laucho beach at the foot of a hill in Arica, a city in northernmost Chile. The area was hit with a 8.2 magnitude earthquake on April 1, and many archaeological artifacts have since been uncovered thanks to landslides triggered by the quake.
Dating back to the Chinchorro period (which predates ancient Egypt by some 4,000 years), the mummy was found by a student under a pile of dog poop. The children, ages 10 to 13, were taking an archaeology workshop for at-risk youth.
According to Hans Neira, the students’ teacher, the program is meant to help the children identify with their roots. “By visiting archaeological remains in situ they witness their own history, the first inhabitants of the area and also from other eras,” he told the International Business Times.
Since Saturday’s discovery, the Chilean National Heritage Office has stepped in to complete the excavation.