This is the story
about a 15 year old Incan girl who was found frozen for over 500 hundred years.
The little girl who appears to be like she is sleeping was found 6739 meters
above at the Llullaillaco summit. An
Argentine-Peruvian expedition found her well preserved body and fondly
nicknamed her as the “La doncella” meaning “the maiden”. According to the Incan
tradition, she was chosen to go and live with the gods.
Child sacrifice
Capacocha or child
sacrifice is a sad practice by the Incan tribes to appease their gods. The girl
is believed to be from a poor farming family and was groomed as a gift for the
Incan gods. The girl who froze to death was found along with 2 other children.
Andrew Wilson from University of Bradford told National Geographic that there
was a series of rituals involved in which she was fed with “coca” and alcohol. Coca
is a leaf which was used as a stimulant to relieve from altitude sickness. Only
the wealthiest among the Incan could afford alcohol and drugs those days and
these are the people responsible to hold such rituals.
These children were
brought by the Incan priests for sacrifice and coca leaves are fed along the
way to aid their breathing in the long and difficult journey to the
mountaintops. They must be brought to the sacrificial burial site alive. Upon
reaching, they are given an intoxicating drink to minimize the associated problems
such as fear, agony or any other forms of resistance. They are then killed either by a blow to their head, by strangulation
or left alone to die in the exposure of freezing temperature.
Scientists startling discovery
Scientists claim that her
organs are intact as if she was dead barely a few weeks ago. Further, by testing
the hair, they could determine her diet prior to death. It appears that the
Inca tribe fattened the children before killing them. The Incan fed these children
with maize and animal proteins, which forms a diet of the elite months or years
prior to the sacrifice. Her body condition suggests that she was drugged and
left to die in the mountains. As it was a high altitude, it would not have taken her
long to die.
Child No. 2: Llullaillaco
Boy
Besides the 15 year
old girl, another boy above who met a more violent death was found. The Llullaillaco
boy was found in condition where the body was tied with ropes and his clothes
had blood stains indicating the struggle and suffocation prior to meeting his
death.
Child No. 3: The
Lightning Girl
As the name suggests,
the third child was a girl above whose body was charred due to lightning strike. There
was a difference noted in this girl though because the Maiden was revered with a
beautiful headdress and hairstyle which seemed lacking in this girl here. It is believed that
the second and third child barely 4 or 5 years old, represented as attendants
to the Maiden.
The spot where these
children were found
All three of them were found near the top of a volcano and the
high altitude managed to preserve their bodies so well that there were still
blood available to be taken as samples from their veins. The scientists who
analyzed her body claim that the “maiden” was suffering from lung infection at
the time of her death.
Many Incan children
had suffered the same faith especially during famine or the death of their
emperor. As children are considered to be the purest of beings they fall prey
to this heinous tradition. The Incans believed that after their death, they will
live amongst their gods and also be able to visit and communicate with the
humans, especially the Incan Shamans. The children paid a price for the beliefs
of the Incan community, and they knowingly or unknowingly paid the price with
their life. They were denied the right to live so as to preserve the comforts
of the adults.
CONTRIBUTION:
1. Unbelievablefacts
2. Allday.com
No comments:
Post a Comment