500 year old Incan mummy found

[RedGlitter]

I wish they'd offered us a better photo. I would love to see what an Incan person of 500 years ago looked like. Also, what do you think of displaying the mummy? Should they do it or should it be buried?

SALTA, Argentina (AP) -- Museum-goers gasped at the well-preserved mummy of an Inca maiden that is on display for the first time, a serene gaze etched on her face hundreds of years ago when she was sacrificed and froze to death in the Andes.

Hundreds of people packed a museum in Salta, Argentina, to see "la Doncella" -- Spanish for "the Maiden" -- a 15-year-old girl whose remains were found in 1999 in an icy pit on Llullaillaco volcano, along with a 6-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy.

Scientists believe the so-called Children of Llullaillaco were sacrificed more than 500 years ago in a ceremony marking the annual corn harvest. Dressed in fine clothes and given corn alcohol to put them to sleep, the victims were then left to die at an elevation of 22,080 feet.

"Just this morning we have had more than 700 people come see the exhibit, and we had hundreds yesterday when it opened," High Mountain Archaeological Museum director Gabriel Miremont said on Thursday.

The mummy is kept in a chamber that pumps chilled air through a low-oxygen atmosphere, simulating the subfreezing conditions where it was found. The other two children are being studied and not on display.

Seated with her legs bent and her arms resting on her stomach, the Maiden's remains are still adorned with a gray shawl and bone and metal ornaments. Scientists say her face was daubed with red pigment and around her mouth they found flecks of coca leaf, which is chewed by highland Indians to blunt the effects of altitude.

The Children of Llullaillaco were found at the highest elevation ever discovered for sacrificial victims of the former Inca empire, which ran along the Andes from present-day northern Argentina to Peru.

Several Indian groups waged a losing campaign to prevent the remains from going on display, arguing that the mummies should be buried or at least kept from public view.

The exhibit is a "great mistake," said Miguel Suarez, a representative of the Calchaquies valley tribes in and around Salta.

[chocoholic]

Read about this in the Daily Mail here yesterday, they had these photos -





Site where they were found -



Think personally that they should have been left where they were found, not brought back and put on general display.

[RedGlitter]

Oh Wow!! Thank you, Choc!!

Now that I can see all of her, it leaves a much bigger impact on me. To think that she's/it's 500 years old amazes me.

I'm not sure how I feel yet about the display issue. I can go either way.

Sacrifice....what a concept.

[chonsigirl]

I read about her yesterday, it is very interesting. The controversary whether the young girl should not be on display or not, it is a hard one to call. But to me, it looks like she just fell asleep, she is so well perserved....

[PerfectAngel]

That is so cool!