Mummy Juanita

Momia Juanita (Spanish for "Mummy Juanita"), also known as the Lady of Ampato, is the well-preserved frozen body of a girl from the Inca Empire who was killed as a human sacrifice to the Inca gods sometime between 1440 and 1480, when she was approximately 12–15 years old. She was discovered on the dormant stratovolcano Mount Ampato (part of the Andes cordillera in southern Peru) in 1995 by anthropologist Johan Reinhard and his Peruvian climbing partner, Miguel Zárate. Another of her nicknames, Ice Maiden, derives from the cold conditions and freezing temperatures that preserved her body on Mount Ampato.

Juanita has been on display in the Catholic University of Santa María's Museum of Andean Sanctuaries (Museo Santuarios Andinos) in Arequipa, Peru almost continuously since 1996, and was displayed on a tour in Japan in 1999.

In 1995, Time magazine chose her as one of the world's top ten discoveries. Between May and June 1996, she was exhibited in the headquarters of the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C., in a specially acclimatized conservation display unit. In its June 1996 issue, National Geographic included an article dedicated to the discovery of Juanita.

Discovery

In September 1995, during an ascent of Mt. Ampato (), Johan Reinhard and Miguel Zárate found a bundle in the crater that had fallen from an Inca site on the summit due to recent ice melt and erosion from a volcano eruption.

They also found many items that had been left as offerings to the Inca gods including llama bones, small figurines and pottery pieces. The items were strewn about the mountain slope, down which the body had fallen. These included statues, food items (maize kernels and cob), and Spondylus shells, which originate from ocean ecosystems. The clothing she wore resembled textiles from the elite from Cusco, the Inca capital. As Juanita is the closest discovered sacrifice to Cusco and was found with textiles of the wealthy, archaeologists believe that this could suggest she came from a noble Cusco family. Some evidence suggests that she may have come from a noble Cusco family. Stable isotopic analysis of other child sacrifices in the area has found changes in diet within the last year of life to indicate whether they originated from common families. Her haplotype is 16111T, 16223T, 16290T, 16319A.

Reconstruction of her face

In Arequipa in October 2023 a team of Polish and Peruvian scientists unveiled a reconstructed silicone bust of her face. Using digital images and scans of her skull and analysis of her DNA to determine her age, facial characteristics and complexion it was created by Swedish archaeologist and sculptor Oscar Nilsson, first in clay before being cast in silicone.

Preparation for death

Through extracting DNA from Mummy Juanita's well-preserved hair, scientists were able to determine her diet prior to the sacrifice. The analysis of her hair indicated that Juanita was eating foods such as animal protein and maize, which were the diet of the elite, unlike the standard Inca diet of vegetables.

The final six to eight weeks of life for a sacrificed Incan child consisted of heavy use of drugs and alcohol. With a combination of coca and chicha alcohol, the children would be in a highly intoxicated psychological state. Markers in Juanita's hair indicate that she was given coca and alcohol prior to her death, suggesting that she was in a state of near unconsciousness. Death by trauma to the head was a common technique of sacrificing children in this era, along with strangulation and suffocation (burying alive).

Capacocha

The ritual sacrifice called capacocha (or qhapaq hucha) was a key component to the Inca Empire. This ritual, which usually involved the sacrifice of children, was for celebratory events. These events included an annual or biennial event in the Incan calendar, the death of an emperor, the birth of a royal son, or a victory in battle, and were performed to prevent natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions, droughts, earthquakes, and epidemics. Beyond celebratory events and sacrifice for prevention, child sacrifice represented military and political expansion for the culture along with the empire's ability to use coercion and control.

As tribute payment, Inca rulers ordered boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 16 to sacrifice. Evidence of strontium analysis suggests that children were taken from several different geographical areas, brought to the Inca capital, and then potentially underwent months of travel to the sacred location at which they would be sacrificed. Although archaeologists are unsure of why drugs and alcohol were used, some suggest that it was to put the chosen children in a stupor prior to death.

Connecting climate and culture

Juanita was killed as a practice of capacocha, or child sacrifice, to appease Inca gods, or apus. This practice often involves sacrificing a child at a huaca, or ceremonial shrine in a significant spiritual location, in this case Mt. Ampato. Children were selected as they were considered pure beings and worthy of giving to the Inca Gods. Once sacrificed, these children were believed to become messengers to the Apu(s) and act as negotiators for the people. The people in turn would worship the sacrificed children alongside worship of the gods. Ceremonial offerings happened annually, seasonally, or upon special occasions. Volcanic eruptions cause irregularities in climate that can last between three to five years depending on location and intensity. In these circumstances, precipitation patterns are altered due to particulate presence in the air. These periods are usually indicated by abnormal dryness or wetness. Overall, research has indicated that volcanic eruptions lead to a general trend of drought or less precipitation. Particulate from the explosions can also contaminate water supply and air quality. This is endorsed by Reinhard's observations and understandings from the field site: "the sacrifices were made either during a lengthy period of extreme drought, during (or just after) volcanic eruptions or both. Only in such periods could the ground have been unfrozen enough to allow the Incas to build the sites and bury the offerings as they did. And this factor could explain their importance. Droughts and volcanic ash would kill off pasturage and pollute and deplete the water sources so critical to the villagers below".

Others have suggested that child sacrifice could in part be used as a political strategy by Incan leaders to ensure control over the empire. Sacrifices during this time of empire expansion would infix a combination of respect and fear while further embedding devotion.

References

External links

Andes Expedition: Searching For Inca Secrets on National Geographic