Archaeologists in Peru announced they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, in an area which for decades was used as a garbage dump. The new discovery revealed the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas, researchers said.

“What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archaeologist David Palomino told AFP.

The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for over 30 years until becoming an archaeological site in the 1990s.