Children of Llullaillaco

La doncella ("The maiden"), the oldest of the three mummies.

The Children of Llullaillaco (Spanish pronunciation: [ʝu.ʝai̯.ˈʝa.ko], approximately: you-yai-YAH-koh), also known as the Llullaillaco mummies or the mummies of Llullaillaco, are three Inca child mummies rediscovered on 16 March 1999 by Dr. Johan Reinhard and his archaeological team near the summit of Llullaillaco, a stratovolcano of 6,739 metres (22,110 ft) elevation in the Andes mountains on the border between Chile and Argentina. The children were sacrifices in an Inca religious ritual that is believed to have taken place approximately 500 years prior to the 1999 rediscovery. In this ritual, the three children were allowed to fall asleep on top of the mountain, and then they were placed inside a small chamber 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) beneath the ground, where they were left to die. According to Dr. Reinhard, the mummies "appear to be the best preserved Inca mummies ever found", and other archaeologists have expressed the same opinion, calling them among the best preserved mummies in the world. Since 2007, the mummies have been on exhibition in the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology in the city of Salta in north-western Argentina.

Historical and cultural context

See also: Inca Empire and Qhapaq hucha

The Inca Empire (Quechua: Tawantinsuyu, "The Four Regions"), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian South America. The empire started in the area around the city of Cusco, high in the Andes Mountains in modern-day Peru, in the 13th century. The Inca civilization did not expand much geographically until the mid-15th century. However, starting under the rule of Pachacuti in 1438, the Inca swept throughout South America along the Andes mountains, consolidating a massive land empire within the span of less than a century. The area that is now northern and central Chile, and north-western Argentina, was conquered and incorporated into the Inca Empire under the reign of Túpac Inca Yupanqui, who ruled as the second Sapa Inca, or Inca emperor, from 1471 to 1493. The Inca Empire reached its maximum geographical extent around 1530, and then began a rapid decline culminating in the fall of Cusco, the capital city, in 1533, along with the execution by conquering Spaniards of the emperor Atahualpa.

Child sacrifice, referred to as capacocha or qhapaq hucha, was an important part of the Inca religion and was often used to commemorate important events, such as the death of a Sapa Inca. Human sacrifice was also used as offering to the gods in times of famine, and as a way of asking for protection. Children were chosen from all over the sprawling Inca empire, and were picked primarily based on their "physical perfection". They were then taken hundreds or thousands of miles to Cusco, the capital, where they were the subject of important purification rituals. From there, the children were sent to high mountaintops throughout the empire to be sacrificed. According to traditional Inca belief, children who are sacrificed do not truly die, but instead watch over the land from their mountaintop perches, alongside their ancestors. The Inca people considered it a great honor to die as a sacrifice.

Many other well-preserved mummies, such as Mummy Juanita, have also been found on Andean mountaintops.

Burial site

A view of Llullaillaco

Llullaillaco is a stratovolcano of 6,739 metres (22,110 ft) high, located in the Andes mountains on the border between Chile and Argentina. The burial site was covered by five feet of earth and rock at the time of discovery. The site where the mummies were found has been described as "the world's highest archeological site". During the expedition, the research team was confronted with extremely low temperatures and winds exceeding 70 miles per hour (31 m/s).

Llullaillaco is located in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth. The dryness of the air is a major reason for the excellent preservation of the mummies for 500 years. Dryness and cold temperatures are both known to significantly reduce the decomposition rate of human remains, and the extreme environmental conditions at the summit of Llullaillaco therefore are very conducive to preservation.

Reinhard's expedition and 1999 rediscovery

Archeological site at the top of Llullaillaco

In 1999, Dr. Johan Reinhard and his team of researchers set out into the high Andes to search for Inca ritual sacrifice sites. Three days into their search, Reinhard's team discovered the grave site containing two girls and one boy. Several gold, shell and silver statues, textiles and pottery were also found. The younger girl's body had been struck by lightning after her death, causing burn damage on her body, especially her face and shoulder. The other two mummies were not struck by lightning. Statues made of precious metals and textiles were among the many goods found in the graves.

Several times, the expedition came close to failure. After a long acclimatization process, including a month spent exploring a lower-elevation mountain nearby, the team finally approached close to the summit of Llullaillaco after establishing a series of camps throughout the ascent. Throughout this journey, the team braved severe winds and extreme temperatures, at one point reaching −40 °C (−40 °F). Furthermore, at their final camp, at an elevation of 6,600 metres (21,700 ft), a storm broke and lasted for four days. According to Reinhard, "[they were] about to give up", but they spotted a dirt-filled trail that indicated previous human activity. They followed this trail, and eventually reached the burial site, where they found the mummies.

The mummies

La Doncella on display.

El Niño

Three mummies were found at the Llullaillaco burial site: la doncella (the maiden), la niña del rayo (the lightning girl), and el niño (the boy). According to a biochemical analysis of la doncella's hair, the children were drugged with alcohol and coca before the start of the sacrificial ritual. Once at the top of the mountain, they were allowed to fall asleep, and then placed in a small tomb 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) underground, where they were left to die. Additionally, they were "fattened up" with a high-protein diet before they were sacrificed.

The mummies were in exceptional condition when found. Dr. Reinhard said that the mummies "appear to be the best preserved Inca mummies ever found", additionally saying that the arms were perfectly preserved, even down to the individual hairs. The internal organs were still intact, and one of the hearts still contained frozen blood. Because the mummies froze before dehydration could occur, the desiccation and shriveling of the organs that is typical to exposed human remains never took place.

La doncella

The oldest mummy, a girl found to be around the age of fifteen, was dubbed la doncella. She has become widely known as the "Maiden of Llullaillaco". A bacterial infection was discovered in her lungs during an examination. She wore a dress with her hair elaborately braided, along with a feather-adorned headdress. DNA testing indicated that the two girls were half sisters, while the boy was not related. La Doncella had been drugged by coca leaves and a maize beer known as chicha. Though all three of the sacrifices consumed significant amounts of these substances prior to the ritual, a hair sample analysis shows that la doncella consumed significantly more coca and alcohol than either el niño or la niña del rayo. She died in her sleep, a fate shared with the other mummies.

It is believed that La Doncella was an aclla, or Sun Virgin – she was a virgin, chosen and sanctified at around the age of ten years old, to live with other girls and women who would become royal wives, priestesses, and sacrifices. The practice of ritual sacrifice in Inca society was intended to ensure health, rich harvests and preferable weather.

Despite her young age, la doncella already had a few white hairs, potentially indicating high levels of stress.

La niña del rayo

La niña del rayo was approximately six years old when she was sacrificed. Her face, one of her ears, and part of her shoulder were damaged by a lightning strike that occurred after her death. Her head was lifted high, and she was facing toward the south-west. She was wearing a traditional light brown acsu dress, and her head, along with part of her body, was wrapped in a thick wool blanket. Additionally, her entire body was wrapped in another blanket, this one an embroidered blanket of red and yellow. Her skull appears to have been intentionally elongated.

La niña del rayo appears to have been treated less roughly than el niño, but without the care with which la doncella was treated.

El niño

The body of el niño had been tightly wrapped, as some of his ribs and pelvis were dislocated. He apparently died under stress, as vomit and blood were found on his clothing. There also appeared to be an infestation of nits in his hair. He was the only child to be tied up. Lying in the fetal position, he was wearing a gray tunic, a silver bracelet, and leather shoes, and had been wrapped in a red and brown blanket. The skull of el niño had been slightly elongated, similarly to that of la niña del rayo. Due to the way in which he was tied up, it is believed that he may have died of suffocation.

El niño was buried with a collection of small objects, some of them depicting finely dressed men driving caravans of llamas, and others depicting a ritual activity in which men use slingshots to launch cannons into the lagoons at the end of the dry season to hasten the coming of the rains.

Exhibition

The mummies remain on display at the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology (es) in Salta, Argentina. The area that now contains the city of Salta was a part of the Inca empire in the late 1400s and early 1500s, before being captured by Spanish conquistadores in 1530. To prevent deterioration, a computer-controlled climate system maintains environmental conditions similar to those on the mountaintop where the mummies had spent the previous 500 years. If an earthquake or other emergency were to result in the loss of power, the airplane of the provincial governor would be used to fly the mummies to another location where they would be able to be "plugged back in". The museum opened its doors to the general public in early September 2007.

Prior to the construction of the museum display, the mummies had been safeguarded by the Catholic University of Salta (es). Developing a way to show the mummies to the public while keeping them perfectly preserved took eight years of research.

Controversy

The exhumation and display of the bodies is opposed by some indigenous people. Rogelio Guanuco, the leader of the Indigenous Association of Argentina (AIRA), called the display "a violation of our loved ones", saying that "Llullaillaco continues to be sacred for us. They should never have profaned that sanctuary, and they should not put our children on exhibition as if in a circus." Fermín Tolaba, chief of the Lules, said that the mummies "should have stayed in their territory", and that "now that [the mummies] are already exhumed, [the museum] would have to return them. It is not good that the museum is earning money with that, charging an admission for something that doesn’t belong to it."

The mountainous region from which the mummies were taken is believed to be home to at least 40 other similar ritual burial sites. However, in order to "have good relations with the Indian people", no more mummies will be removed from the area, according to Gabriel Miremont, the designer and director of the Museum of High Altitude Archeology, which hosts the exhibit displaying the mummies.

See also

• Mummy Juanita