Inca baby mummies. Inca mummies of sacrificed children and women. Girl from Ide, Netherlands

The inhabitants of the Inca Empire are known for their human sacrifices. Often, one of the representatives of the warring tribe acted as a victim. But sometimes even their own children had to suffer. Some years...

The inhabitants of the Inca Empire are known for their human sacrifice. Often, one of the representatives of the warring tribe acted as a victim. But sometimes even their own children had to suffer.

A few years ago, archaeologists discovered on the top of the volcano Llullaillaco mummies of three children who were sent to the slaughter by their own tribesmen. Among them was a girl aged 13-15 and two younger children. All of them died about 500 years ago, but are perfectly preserved.

The older girl was named "Virgin Lullaillaco". The mummy of a seven-year-old boy is also carefully studied. But for another girl, who was allegedly 6 years old at the time of her death, they are not taken yet. Scientists believe that this mummy was struck by lightning, so the research results may be distorted.

The fact that children were sacrificed is indicated by various artifacts found nearby. These are gold and silver items, clothes, bowls of food, and a headdress made from white feathers of unknown birds. There were no signs of violent death on the mummies. They just frozen in the snow.

Teenagers sacrificed by the ancient Incas for a long time consumed coca leaves and beer. This conclusion was reached by archaeologists from several countries who studied the mummy of a teenage girl found in 1995.

Previously, scientists believed that drugs were given to the victims only before death and during the ascent to the mountain peak, where the ritual was performed. Details with reference to an article by researchers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences are provided by Nature News. It is reported by Day.Az with reference to Lenta.ru.

Scientists have studied the mummified remains of a girl whose age at the time of death was about 13 years old, and at the moment the girl is about 500 years old. Many of the circumstances of her death were already well known, so archaeologists conducted additional analyzes: in particular, the hair of the "ice bride" was examined. Using mass spectrometry, it was possible to determine the content of cocaine and cocaethylene, one of the metabolites of cocaine, in the hair. These analyzes showed a level of drug content at the level of modern users of coca leaves, which cannot be explained by a single use of coca before the ritual.

Previously, among archaeologists, it was widely believed that coca leaves were given to the victims when climbing to the place of their death (the mummies of Inca children are found at an altitude of almost six kilometers) and immediately before the murder. It was assumed that the victims also received some other intoxicating substance, which was supposed to facilitate the process of sacrifice: and before that, the children chosen for the ritual did not consume any substances that affect the psyche. Scientists analyzed the hair of not only the "ice bride", but also two other mummies, which only strengthened their hypothesis: they all chewed coca leaves for a year. In addition, archaeologists have identified similar traces of alcohol consumption: the victims drank quite a lot of beer for about a year. Alcohol and coca were, according to researchers, part of the ritual preparation for the sacrifice.

The mummy was preserved very well due to the low temperature in the highlands. Archaeologists were even able to determine its mass, which, according to scientists, is close to lifetime, about forty kilograms.

Previous studies, including isotopic analysis conducted in 2007, have also shown the victims to switch to more valuable foods, including meat. The information accumulated by archaeologists allows us to say that children or teenagers were selected for the role of victims (if the "ice bride" is 13 and she could well be really a bride, then the other two mummies are children 4 and 5 years old: a boy and a girl), who then a year lived a life different from all the other Incas. They were fed the best foods, given alcohol and coca leaves, they wore special clothes, and a year later they were sent to the highest mountain peaks. Death, as established by forensic doctors who studied the mummies, occurred due to a blow to the head with a blunt object. The "Ice Bride" died after being struck with what looked like a modern-day baseball bat, crushing the bones of her skull and causing a massive hemorrhage that compresses the girl's brain.

The bodies of all the victims were thrown from the mountainside along with many items, including gold and silver figurines.

Human sacrifice, including the ritual killing of children, was common in virtually all pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas. The Incas made sacrifices during important events in honor of the gods, of which there were several dozen in their pantheon. Among the main ones, the sun god Inti and the supreme god Viracocha stand out.

Archaeologists have found traces of coca leaves and beer in 500-year-old mummies of Inca children left to die of cold. Mummies of three children were found in 1999 in Argentina and are the best preserved natural mummies that have come down to our time.

The body of the girl is so well preserved that it is hard to believe that she died more than 500 years ago. But what's even more remarkable is that scientists today were able to determine the cause of her death after analyzing her hair.

A 13-year-old Inca girl was heavily fed coca leaves, the basis of cocaine, as well as alcohol before being left to die high in the Andes as a sacrifice to the gods.

Among the three children was also the mummy of a 13-year-old "Girl of Llullaillaco", a 7-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl, whose remains were partially charred due to lightning. She ate well, and was most likely chosen for her beauty and high status.

Axial x-ray of the interior of the mouth showing coca leaves (green) sandwiched between teeth. Coca and alcohol were substances that caused changes in consciousness, interpreted as sacred, which implied the proximity of divine beings to the victims and those around them.

3-D rendering of a girl's skull (yellow), teeth (orange), tongue (red), and coca (green).

Known as the "Ice Maiden", she is one of three children found in stone tombs in Argentina. The eldest of the three girls was found sitting cross-legged with her head bowed and her hands resting in her lap. Her hair was braided into tight pigtails, and on her head was a headdress of feathers.

Three children were found in 1999. They are thought to have been sacrificed during the Capacocha ceremony, a ritual designed to instill fear and make it easier to manage the growing Inca empire.

Capacocha - ritual of death

Capacocha is a ritual performed after the death of the Inca king. Local nobles were obliged to find immaculate children, representing the ideal of human perfection. For children, a marriage ceremony was held, and miniature figures of a man and a lama were given in gold, silver, copper and shells. The male figurines had elongated ears and a braided headband, while the female figurines had braided hair. The children then returned to their home communities where they were revered before being sacrificed to the mountain gods of the Llullaillaco volcano.

Superbly preserved 500-year-old mummy of an Inca child.

A child found on top of the Llullaillaco volcano.

Three of the Llullaillaco children were found surrounded by an extraordinary collection of elaborate gold, silver and shell figurines, textiles and food vessels. Chosen for this honorable ritual, they were brought to the top of the Lullaillaco volcano in the Andes, near the border with Chile, where they were killed during the ritual.

Chicha, an alcoholic beverage made from fermented maize, could help her fight the cold, but it could also hasten her death if she didn't shiver. There is no indication that the girl died a violent death. Instead, she died of a cold. The priests had to wait until she passed out before placing her in the burial chamber.

Dr. Andrew Wilson from the University of Bradford says: “We think that the girl was most likely taken away a year before the ritual, after which her content changed, which is reflected in the increase in coca consumption. At that time, she probably participated in a series of rituals that included the use of coca and alcohol in preparation for the sacrifice. Both products were highly regulated and reserved for the nobility. The fact that the coca and alcohol content increased significantly in the last weeks before death, compared with the younger children, means that there was a great need to subdue the girl in the last weeks of her life.

They climbed the Lullaillaco volcano in Argentina and never came down, becoming part of a human sacrifice.

In 1999, scientists discovered the bodies of three mummies that are so well preserved, as if they had died only a few weeks ago. Since then, researchers have been constantly studying the mummies to reconstruct the last months of their lives.

A new study has found that all three children were regularly given coca and alcohol, which may have played a role in their deaths.

Three children, including a boy, a girl and a 13-year-old "Ice Maiden" as archaeologists nicknamed her, were part of sacrificial ritual known as "capacocha" during which children were killed or left to die on top of a high mountain. The mummies found were naturally mummified by the cold and dry climate on a mountain at over 7,000 meters.

Inca girl

"Ice Maiden" is one of the the best preserved mummies in the world and looks like she just fell asleep.

Her long locks, which had grown at least 2 years before the sacrifice, helped uncover the secret of her death.

The ancient Incas prepared children for sacrifice long before the event itself.

An examination of the hair showed that the diet of the Inca girl had changed in the year before her death. She was given more privileged foods, such as corn and meat. In addition, the girl had to take much larger amounts of coca and alcohol.

The "Ice Maiden" was one of the chosen "akkla" women who were chosen in their teenage years to live apart from familiar society under the guidance of priestesses.

For about six months and shortly before her death, she was given a large amount alcohol in the form of a drink known as "chicha"- a fermented drink made from corn and forced to chew coca leaves. Other children found next to her: a 4-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy were also given drugs, but in smaller quantities.

Scientists believe that alcohol and narcotic coca leaves were given to make them more docile, driving into a stupor and possibly even unconsciousness. This is supported by the relaxed sitting position in which the Inca girl was found and the untouched artifacts nearby.

Although there were traces of violence in other places of sacrifice, like traumatic brain injuries, these three children passed away quietly and calmly.

ancient incas

The Inca Empire existed since 1150 in the Cusco Valley in present-day Peru. By the time the empire flourished in the 1520s, it stretched from the Pacific coast and the Andes to present-day Ecuador and the Maule River in Chile. Over 10 million people were Incas.

- Manco Capac was the founder of the Inca Empire who called himself the "Great Inca", the divine god of the Sun. In total, during the existence of the Incas, there were 13 emperors.

The official language of the Inca was Quechua. Incas there was no written language. They kept their history orally from father to son. In addition, they had a peculiar transmission system called "kipu" in the form of colored woolen cords with knots of different lengths.

Inca good good at math and agriculture. They built aqueducts, cities, temples, fortresses, tunnels, suspension bridges and long roads. They also knew about hydraulics, astronomy, and military strategy. They had a rich culture and developed music, art and poetry, wood and stone carvings.

One of the most famous monuments of the Inca civilization is Machu Picchu located in the Andes at an altitude of 2430 meters above sea level. Since 2007, it has been named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.