Inca Mummies

Inca Mummies

Where were they found

Inca mummies consist of at least three main types:

(1) the mummies of the rulers. Most were kept in Cusco, though at least the mummies of three kings were sent to Lima. None have ever been found, because they were destroyed during the Spanish conquest of Peru.

(2) the mummies of sacrificed individuals (mostly children), which have been found on mountain tops in Peru, Chile, and Argentina. One was named Juanita, the Ice Maiden.

(3) A related group of Inca mummies are the Chachapoya, known sometimes as the mummies of "the Cloud People." These come from northern Peru.

 

When were they made

The mummies of the rulers and mountain top sacrifices were made from 1438 to 1532, during the reign of the Inca empire.

 

How were they made

(1) The mummified rulers were most likely artificial mummies, although the methods the Inca are unclear. The dead king would have been seated on a special throne, arms across his chest, knees brought up to the chest. Pieces of silver and gold would have been placed on his chest and in his hands and mouth. He would have been dressed in fancy cloth. But no record of the actual mummification process (was the body dried? was it treated in any way? were internal organs removed?) was recorded.

(2) Children who were sacrificed on the mountain tops became natural mummies, because of the freezing temperatures and the dry, windy mountain air.

How many were made

There are no estimates for how many Inca mummies were made.

 

What's special about them

1. The artificial mummies of the Inca rulers are special because they no longer exist. When the Inca were conquered by Pizarro, he ordered his soldiers to burn the mummies. Devout Catholics, he was disturbed by the Inca worship of their dead ancestors. With their destruction went valuable information not only about the mummification process but the lifestyle and civilization of the Inca rulers.

2. The natural mummies of the mountain top sacrifices are special because (1) so many have been found in recent years and (2) some of the mummies are in excellent condition and (3) the burial items and even the platform itself can provide archaeologists and other researchers with important information about the Inca life and religious beliefs.

For example, three new Inca ice mummies were found in perfect shape in early spring 1999 during blizzard conditions atop Mount Llullaillaco, a 22,000-foot volcano in the Argentine Andes. The boy and two girls, between 8 and 15 years old, were discovered by archaeologist Johan Reinhard (and his National Geographic team), who also found Juanita in 1995. Dr. Reinhard has been a busy man in the Andes of Chile, Peru, and Argentina--where in the past few years he has found 18 mountain top mummies.

What's so exciting about these three new mummies is that weather conditions caused them to be frozen rather than freeze-dried.  This means that they are much better preserved--so well preserved that a CT-scan revealed that all of their internal organs are intact and in good shape, as if they had just died last week instead of approximately 500 years ago. In fact, the heart and lungs  still contain blood. Reinhard said that the mummies "appear the best preserved of any mummy I've seen. The arms looked perfect, even down to the visible hairs." According to Reinhard, they are better preserved than Juanita. [NOTE: Freeze-dried mummies have no fluids left in their bodies for scientists to study.]

This perfect condition will allow researchers to study the mummies as thoroughly as possible (without harming them) and find out what they had eaten before death and even if they were genetically related. They do not even intend to unwrap the mummies completely.

Apparently the three were sacrificed by the Inca, though no cause of death has been determined yet. They may have even been buried alive--five feet below a burial platform. They were separated by stone walls, and the bodies were covered with rocks and dirt.

Sometime after burial, one of the girl mummies was struck by lightning, which damaged her left ear and shoulder. But the other two child mummies were undamaged. According to the San Jose Mercury, the second girl mummy has a "cone-shaped" head, which was caused by the Inca practice of binding children's heads at birth to help turn them into the shape of a mountain.

The burial platform itself was also major discovery. It contained over 30 gold, silver, and shell statues (ranging from 2 to 7 inches tall); half of the statues were dressed in clothes. The site also included pottery (some containing food), fabrics woven from alpaca, and some clothing (such as moccasins).

The mummies are presently being stored at the Catholic University in Salta, Argentina.

 

Where to see them

Only a few mountain top mummies appear to be on exhibit. Presently, Juanita is on display at the Museo Santuarios de Altura in Arequipa, Peru.  An eight- or nine-year-old boy sacrificed on Cerro El Plomo in Chile is exhibited at the National Museum of Natural History in Santiago. And "Los niños dormidos de Llullaillaco" ("The sleeping children of Llullaillaco) are exhibited at the Museo de Arqueología de Alta Montaña in Salta, Argentina.

 

Where to find more information about him

How to Make a Mummy Talk by James M. Deem has a section on all types of Inca mummies.

Heather Pringle's The Mummy Congress devotes part of a chapter to a discussion of the Inca royal mummies and their ultimate destruction. Another chapter discusses Juanita, her discovery, and her political preservation. Well worth reading! 

Mummies, Disease and Ancient Cultures by Eve and Aidan Cockburn and Theodore Reyman has an excellent chapter on "The Mummies of Peru" by James Vreeland Jr. Many b&w photos.

The Incas and their Ancestors by Michael Moseley is an excellent book that contains pertinent information about the mummies of Inca rulers and mountain sacrifices.

 

And many children's books have been written about Juanita, the Ice Maiden, an Inca sacrifice on Mount Ampato.