The Lady of Cao

For centuries, the warriors and rulers of the Moche civilisation were assumed to be men. Then, in 2006, archaeologists at El Brujo uncovered a tomb that made that assumption impossible to hold.   The body inside was female. Her arms carried tattoos linked to power and transformation. Beside her lay a ceremonial club, gold ornaments, and regalia that matched the highest-ranking burials ever found on Peru's northern coast.   The Lady of Cao follows the excavation, analysis, and ongoing debate surrounding this discovery — and what it forces us to reconsider about ancient power, gender, and the stories we tell about the past