Archaeologists describe the chilling past of a mummified girl whose remains were discovered on top of a volcano in South America. A recent study confirmed that it was the victim of a religious ritual that was supposed to avert natural disasters or famine. Experts even managed to find out when exactly the sacrifice took place.
- The mummified girl La Doncella from the volcano Llullaillaco was sacrificed during a religious ritual.
- Archaeologists discovered the body of the girl and two other children in 1999.
- La Doncella died around 1500 AD
- Children were given alcohol and coca leaves in a ceremony called “capacocha”.
- The ritual served to avert disasters and maintain the prosperity of the Inca Empire.
The archaeologists’ research concerned a girl known as the Virgin of Llullaillaco or La Doncella, who was found at the very top of the Llullaillaco volcano rising to a height of approximately 6,700 meters on the border of Chile and Argentina. Even though experts discovered her body together with the remains of two other children already in 1999, it is only after almost three decades that we learn new details about them.
that three children from the Inca Empire climbed the volcano as part of a sacred ritual. Thanks to the fact that the freezing conditions preserved their bodies very well, today we know exactly what the victims ate before they died. Traces of corn and cassava were found in the remains of La Doncella.
It turned out that the children were given alcohol and coca leaves in a ceremony called “capacocha”. It was the most important form of sacrifice in the Inca Empire, the purpose of which was to avert natural disasters and maintain the stability of civilization, especially in times of unrest.
In this formal ceremony, priests and high-ranking dignitaries selected children and young women from across the empire for their exceptional beauty and purity.. The victims traveled for many months from the imperial capital (Cuzca) to the sacred places (huacas). The ritual culminated on the tops of mountains and volcanoes, where children were drugged before death and then killed by a blow to the head, strangulation or freezing.
recent research has additionally revealed when this sacrifice took place. Analysis of La Doncella’s body shows that the girl died around 1500 AD At that time, the area of Llullaillaco was a relatively new territory of the empire, which means that this ritual was intended to ensure the successful expansion of the rulers.
