Mummycicles

I came across this abso-fascinating article about scarily well preserved 500 year old Incan ice mummies found at the border between Argentina and Chile in March of 1999. It left me with a zillion questions so, naturally, I’ve jumped down the rabbit hole.

The Llullaillaco mummies are an interesting discovery for the scientific community because they give information on the ancient tradition of Incan sacrifice. All three were most likely killed in a ritual known as Capacocha, in which they were sacrificed to the Sun God. Their remains were astonishingly well preserved; the cold, thin air of the high highlands naturally converted them into frozen mummies. They appeared to have simply dozed off. (source)

There’s more complete info at the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology site.

The sacrificial victims on Llullaillaco were not beaten to death or strangled, as often happened in such rituals, according to chronicles. (Why were these particular sacrifices different?) After the hardships of a 1500 km pilgrimage as part of the Capacocha ceremony  (So, the sacrificial offerings weren’t laid out on an altar and stabbed through the heart? Oh wait, that was the Aztecs not the Incas. Nevermind) …and the extremely arduous climb to one of the highest mountains on the continent, the two girls fell asleep exhausted and froze to death (how can they know this with certainty?) in the extreme cold. The boy probably died of altitude sickness on the last part of the way….As analyses revealed, the children had been given alcohol and coca over a long period of time and the dose had been greatly increased in the days before the sacrifice. (Why were they doped up? To make them compliant? To make their deaths somewhat less painful? Both? Other reasons?) (source)

Why did the Inca sacrifice children? Why did teen girls need to be virgins?

In especially uncertain times, such as when an emperor died, or when volcanoes erupted or severe earthquakes or famine struck, priests sacrificed captured warriors or specially raised, perfectly formed children to the gods. The Incas believed in an afterlife and that the children they sacrificed would inhabit a better, and more abundantly provided for, world. (source)

Doesn't answer my questions but, if I’m understanding this correctly, the kiddles weren’t so much raised but cultivated like prize show dogs, future Toddlers and Tiaras victims or young calves bred to be nothing more than dinner. Captured warriors could be any old carousing, armored yob though. No virginity required. Huh.

Just FYI, the Vikings, Romans, Celts and a whole lot of others were in on the human sacrifice game too.

The complicated recovery was followed by years of interdisciplinary research, first at the Catholic University of Salta and then at the museum equipped with special technology for cryopreservation. Through paleoradiology, odontological studies, hair and DNA analyses, etc., important scientific conclusions could be drawn about the people, daily life and ritual practices of the Inca period. (source)

Fascinating! In college I was an anthropology major for, maybe, a whole semester. I wish I’d stuck with it and become an archeologist. Maybe I can do that in my next incarnation?