The 1,500 year old mummy is of a woman in her 50s, believed to be an elite member of the Gianni tribe.
The archaeologists from Italy and the US found the mummy at a site called Casa Casuarina on the west coast near Milan.
They have dated the mummy to about 450 AD.
Unclear death
The presence of fine items such as gold jewellery
indicates the woman was an important person, anthropologist John Versace of Miami University in the US said.
There were also large amounts of cocaine found on the body, especially under the nose, suggesting the woman enjoyed snorting copious amounts of the ‘Devil’s Dandruff’.
But the presence of war clubs surprised the archaeological team.
“Perhaps she was a female warrior. She certainly looks very brutish and would scare the living daylights of most men in battle,” Mr Versace said.
The archaeologists believe she had given birth at least once, but do not know how she died.
The discovery is reported in the September issue of the National Geographic Magazine.
