A CHILLING tomb filled with gold has been uncovered in the Panama jungle - and it was once home to a haunting ritual of human sacrifice.
Archaeologists unearthed the ancient burial site which was created so the rich and powerful dead wouldn't have to suffer a lonely afterlife.
Located in the El Caño Archaeological Park in the district of Natá, province of Coclé, the tomb was the resting place of a young lord from around 750-800 AD.
In the ancient Coclé culture, which existed in Panama between 200 BCE and 1550 CE, elite individuals didn't have to worry about eternal solitude.
Instead, archaeological evidence from ancient cemeteries suggests that Coclé chiefs and nobility were sometimes buried alongside their companions.
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The chosen individuals, most commonly their favourite wives or servants, were sacrificed as part of the funeral, according to Fashion History.
As a result, multiple bodies have often been found buried together, although the burial of the young lord in El Caño is especially lavish.
The elite individual's body was found face down on top of a female body, which experts claim was a common tradition in the ancient Coclé culture.
But it wasn't just the burial itself that caught the eye - piles of gold artefacts and the bones of up to 31 other people were also found.
Panama's Ministry of Culture report that in addition to the offerings, mostly ceramic artefacts and pieces of gold were found as part of the funerary trousseau (a collection of personal possessions).
Amongst the luxury items were two belts made of gold beads, four bracelets, two earrings in the shape of a man and a woman, an earring in the shape of a crocodile, and a beaded necklace.
There were also five earrings made from sperm whale teeth with gold covers, two gold plates, two bells, skirts and bracelets made of dog teeth, and a set of flutes made from bone.
Experts believe the luxury items found in the ancient tomb of the Coclé lord probably had spiritual significance.
Julia Mayo, leader of the archaeological project in El Caño Archaeological Park, shared some initial findings and fascinating photographs of the tomb to Panama's Ministry of Culture.
Images show gold plate's freshly excavated, a miniature gold figurine and another gold artefact with an animal-like body.
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With further analysis, the archaeologists hope to uncover cultural, spiritual, and political elements of the mysterious Coclé culture and their hierarchical ways of life.
However, with the excavation of the site not yet fully complete, the numbers of individuals buried in the tomb could still change.
The number currently sits somewhere between eight and 32, although bones cannot be matched to a specific person without genetic analysis.
Elsewhere, a 2,500-year-old Egyptian tomb containing reams of ancient spells was unearthed in the Abusir necropolis in November.
The tomb belonged to a Djehutyemnakht, a royal scribe and high official at the time, according to archaeologists.
The discovery was made shortly after researchers unearthed the final resting place of a powerful queen who might've been ancient Egypt's first female ruler.
A previos unearthing of ancient wine in Upper Egypt offered archaeologists clues about a powerful ruler from 5,000 years ago.
