These are the tattooed remains of 1,000-year-old children in what was thought to be an ancient sacrifice.
Eleven graves containing skeletons with clear marks on their skulls have been discovered in the Huaca Santa Rosa de Pucala archaeological complex in Peru.
Several items were also found at the site as shocked archaeologists admit they are taken aback by the find.
It believed to be a cemetery of the historic pre-Columbian Moche - the civilisation that inhabited what is now Peru from about 100 to 700 AD.
The discovery has "raised new questions about the political and religious nature of the Moche people".
It has also sparked doubts about the "social status of skeletons" found in the Lambayeque region.
The tattoo marks have left scientists baffled but they say the discovery could help provide even more answers.
The Huaca Santa Rosa Archaeological Project Director Edgar Bracamonte is excited by what was unearthed.
He said: "We have found two important graves here.
"This mark we have found would be a type of facial painting or tattoo which mark has been impregnated to the tissue and has been impregnated to this child's skull.
"He will allow us a little reconstruction of the image of the mark and from that look for any association with Moche marks or perhaps it is a child of foreign Cajamarquino origin."
"One of them that has a metal sceptre, probably a sceptre of copper.
"That is in addition to some bone and ceramic objects and other offerings as well as a camera that has appeared these days and we are just beginning to dig it."
Bracamonte believes that the remains belonged to elite groups that are following different burial practices than those of Sipan.
