Journey through the Incas: Revealing humanity’s greatest mummy – a legacy from work to eternity

The standout attraction for visitors to the Anthropology Museum in Arequipa, Peru, is undoubtedly the Juanita Mummy, one of the most preserved mummies in the world. Her dark-skinned face and disciplined hands and arms show hardly any signs of deterioration. Her discoverer, Johan Reinhard, had even noted how perfectly the mummy’s skin had been preserved, “worthy of visiting her villages.” As peaceful as she appears, one of many ghostly-looking mummies archaeologists have discovered, Juanita’s life was a sacrifice to the Inca gods.

The Juanita Mummy is a featured attraction at the Museo de la Nación in Lima, Peru. In March 1999, scientists estimated that Juanita was between 12 and 15 years old when she was sacrificed as part of an Incan ritual involving the killing of children. Translated as “royal obliquity,” coca cachaca was the Incan attempt to ensure that the best and healthiest among them were sacrificed to appease the gods, as well as a way to stop a disastrous or unhealthy harvest. The preparation for Juanita’s death was not as smooth as expected. Her final days indicated that she was selected for her physical appearance approximately a year before her actual death and was moved from the official list of potential mares to the eternal home of protein animals and corn, along with copious amounts of coca and alcohol.

As Andrew Wilson, an expert forensic pathologist and forensic archaeologist, explained to National Geographic, the six to eight months of Juanita’s life as a child sacrifice priestess were one of the most intoxicating states of psychological euphoria, altered by the altered status of the state psychologist altered by the chemical reaction of cocaine and alcohol. Archaeologists believe that at the end, when Juanita was selected for sacrifice, she was in a stable emotional and relaxed state. While the Incas could perfect this drugged concoction, which, coupled with high amounts of mountaineering, would lead to the priests falling into a deep sleep, Juanita was not so lucky. Mummy Juanita Forensic Radiologist Elliot Fischer would discover that Juanita’s death was caused by massive head trauma from a blow to the head with a wooden bat. Fischer concluded that her injuries were “typical of someone who has been hit by a batting baseball.” After death, her skull swelled with blood, pushing her brain to the side.

After Juanita’s death, which occurred between 1450 and 1480, her body is believed to have remained in the mountains until it was discovered in September 1995 by archaeologist Johan Reinhard and his expedition partner, Miguel Zárate. If not for volcanic activity, it is possible that the glacier surrounding Monte Ampato would have kept the mummy and its burial site hidden. But because of the volcanic activity, melted snow from Monte Ampato began to melt, pushing the mummy and its burial site down the mountain. Reinhard and Zárate discovered the small mummy mound inside a cave in the mountain, along with numerous ritual objects, shells, and small figurines. The heat, approximately 20,000 feet above the summit of Monte Ampato, had left the mummies nearly intact. “Doctors have been shaking their heads and saying [the mummies] don’t look 500 years old [but] they could have died a few weeks ago,” Reinhard recalled in a 1999 interview.

The discovery of such mummified dolls naturally prompts a deep dive into scientific knowledge. Reinhard would return to the mountain with a team and find two more mummies, this time a dying boy and girl, this time a girl and a girl. Reports from a Spanish soldier who witnessed scientific acts of child sacrifice suggested that the boy and girl might have been buried as “companion sacrifices” for Mumiya Juanita.

In short, experts estimate that there are hundreds of mummified dolls of Inca children still waiting to be discovered in the peaks of the Andes.