Researchers at the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology preparing the frozen mummy of a 15-year-old girl, called La Doncella, “the maiden,” for exhibition.
SALTA, Argentina — The maiden, the boy, the girl of lightning: they were three Inca children, entombed on a bleak and frigid mountaintop 500 years ago as a religious sacrifice.
The three Inca children were found frozen at the peak of Mount Llullaillaco, 6,700 m. above sea level, on March of 1999.
Their frozen bodies were among the best preserved mummies ever found, with internal organs intact, blood still present in the heart and lungs, and skin and facial features mostly unscathed. The children were sacrificed as part of a religious ritual, known as capacocha. They walked hundreds of miles to and from ceremonies in Cuzco and were then taken to the summit of Llullaillaco (yoo-yeye-YAH-co), given chicha (maize beer), and, once they were asleep, placed in underground niches, where they froze to death.
Nature was sacred for American Pre-Columbian cultures. Mountains were considered the gods or “apus” who protected the communities. The Inca state attributed great importance to this ancient worship, and its inhabitants built small constructions for religious rituals that are nowadays known as “high altitude sanctuaries or shrines.” Mount Llullaillaco is the highest peak of the region.
In the eight years since their discovery, the mummies, known here simply as Los Niños or “the children,” have been photographed, X-rayed, CT scanned and biopsied for DNA. The cloth, pottery and figurines buried with them have been meticulously thawed and preserved. One hundred and forty-six artifacts, which formed this miniature treasure, are exhibited for the first time, at the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology.
A computerized climate control system replicates mountaintop conditions inside the case — low oxygen, humidity and pressure, and a temperature of 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
The room holding La Doncella is dimly lighted, and the case itself is dark; visitors must turn on a light to see her. At a touch of the button, she seemed to materialize from the past, sitting cross-legged in her brown dress and striped sandals, bits of coca leaf still clinging to her upper lip, her long hair woven into many fine braids, a crease in one cheek where it leaned against her shawl as she slept.
Source: NYTimes
