News in Brief: Mummified Incan teen drank, did drugs
Girl, who was sacrificed, may have been sedated by alcohol, coca leaves
Web edition: July 29, 2013
Girl, who was sacrificed, may have been sedated by alcohol, coca leaves
By Rachel Ehrenberg
Web edition: July 29, 2013
Enlarge CHILD SACRIFICE
The mummified teenager known as the Maiden ingested copious amounts of alcohol and chewed coca leaves in the weeks before her death in an Incan sacrifice ritual, a new analysis of her tightly braided hair finds.
Credit: ? Johan Reinhard
In the month before her death as a sacrifice to Incan gods, a teenage girl drank heavily and chewed coca leaves, according to a new analysis of her mummified remains. The discovery suggests that the girl, known as the Maiden, was heavily sedated or perhaps already dead when she was entombed around 500 years ago in a shrine atop the Llullaillaco volcano on the border between Argentina and Chile. Her death was probably part of the sacrifice ritual called capacocha.
Enlarge A wad of coca leaves (green), revealed by CT scan, rests in the cheek of a teenage girl who was entombed atop a mountain in Argentina about 500 years ago.
Credit: J. Reinhard and M.C. Ceruti, 2010
CT scans of the girl?s body exposed a mass of coca leaves tucked into her left cheek, an international team reports July 29 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Chemical analyses of her hair reveal that her coca use peaked about 6 months before her death, while her drinking spiked in her final weeks. A young boy entombed at the site also appears to have ingested relatively large amounts of alcohol; levels for the third body, a young girl, vary over the months before her death.
Unlike other mummified Capacocha victims, who show signs of being whacked in the head, the cause of death of the Llullaillaco mummies remains unknown.
Citations
A. S. Wilson et al. Archaeological, radiological, and biological evidence offer insight into Inca child sacrifice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Published July 29, 2013. doi:10.1073/pnas.1305117110 [Go to]
Suggested Reading
T. Hesman Saey. Maiden shows signs of TB-like infection. Science News. Vol. 182, September 8, 2012, p. 9. [Go to]
B. Bower. Inca mummies emerge from deep freeze. Science News. Vol. 155, April 17, 1999, p. 244. Available online: [Go to]
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