Packed with treasure in the styles of two ancient orders, the 1,500-year-old tomb of the Moche Indian "king of bling" was discovered in Peru at the base of an eroded mud-brick pyramid. Among the finds: 19 golden headdresses, various pieces of jewelry, and two funerary masks, as well as skeletons of two other men and a pregnant woman. The tomb's mysterious contents could shed new light on this little-known culture of Peru's arid northern coast.

Located some 475 miles (750 kilometers) north of Lima, the tomb was found at the base of Huaca el Pueblo, a mud-brick, stepped pyramid that has eroded into a high, round mound. For entombment, the lord was dressed in a tunic and train of tiny gilded copper plates, and his face was covered with two funerary masks. A necklace of four-inch (ten-centimeter), disk-shaped silver rattles encircled his neck.

On his head was a gilded crown. Six more crowns and ten V-shaped headdresses called diadems were arrayed on top of his body. Still another diadem was folded in half and placed atop six metal war clubs to serve as a mat for his lifeless body. Atop it all was placed a final diadem, the first treasure found by the archaeologists.