Children sacrificed by the Incas 500 years ago were first given large amounts of alcohol and coca leaves. This is evidenced by the hair of three mummified children. Just before the sacrifice, they were given an even higher dose of drugs, probably to keep them calm during their dying process.
Hair Analysis Reveals
The Incas sacrificed children, specially selected for this purpose, to appease their capricious gods. Especially beautiful young or talented girls were a favorite sacrifice. They were beautifully dressed and cut for the ritual.
Scientists at the University of Bradford examined the hair of three mummified children who had been sacrificed 500 years ago. The results show that the children, aged 4.5 and 13, were given alcohol and coca leaves. Also, the dose was increased shortly before their death. The coca leaves, from which cocaine is made today, had an intoxicating effect. Andrew Wilson, one of the researchers, therefore believes that the drugs and alcohol were intended to keep the children calm during the sacrifice and during the months of preparation.
In an earlier study it could already be concluded from the hair that the children came from farming families. Their diet contained simple agricultural ingredients until about a year before their deaths. It is clear to see that their diet changed in the last year of their lives. The children were given better and more luxurious food:corn and meat instead of potatoes. For the teenage girl, that was even 21 months.
Preparing for death
It is believed that the children, after being taken away from their parents, lived in isolation with other chosen ones. Their social status rose and from that moment on their lives were dominated by their future death:the capacocha, or the ritual of the "Elect of the Gods." The young virgin was the most important sacrifice and therefore the most beautifully dressed and decorated. She was also the longest prepared and given the most drugs and alcohol. The two young children, judging by their hair, came into the picture about a year before the sacrifice. Probably for the purpose of providing services or assisting the teen in other ways.
The final sacrifice was to leave the chosen teen and her two young helpers in tombs of the volcano Llullaillaco. The teenage girl's body was found in a relaxed pose and without injuries. She sat cross-legged, her head bent slightly forward, still holding a wad of coca leaves in her mouth. She was probably put in this position just before her death and remained seated under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Alcohol speeds up the hypothermia process so she will have died pretty quickly.
The corpses of the two small children were less unscathed. So it seems that the boy, who had a rope tied around him, has died of suffocation. The little girl was struck by lightning after her death.
The find
In 1999, archaeologists found three frozen infant corpses in Inca tombs in the craters of Argentina's 6,739-meter-high volcano Llullaillaco. The cold temperatures left the 500-year-old mummies perfectly preserved. They are still a source of research and give us a nice glimpse into the lost culture of the Incas and their rituals. The mummies are in the MAAM Archaeological Museum in Salta, Argentina.