This was ‘Juanita’, the ice maiden of Ampato sacrificed in an Inca ritual when she was about 14 years old

2023-10-28 18:45:15

In 1995, a team of mountain archaeologists led by Johan Reinhard ascended the snow-capped Ampato volcano, 6,318 meters above sea level in the Peruvian province of Caylloma (Arequipa) and discovered the frozen body of an Inca teenager who was sacrificed in a ritual to the gods and buried in a bundle 500 years ago very close to the crater of the volcano.

Known as the Lady or Maiden of Ampatoor simply as ‘Juanita‘, his mummy is currently kept in a special chamber, at -20 degrees Celsius in the Andean Sanctuaries Museum of the Catholic University of Santa Maríain Arequipa, where visitors can observe it directly.

Now, in addition, they will be able to contemplate what his face could have been like. Almost thirty years after its discovery, Peruvian scientists from this university and the Center for Andean Studies of the University of Warsaw (Poland) have managed to reconstruct the girl’s features in a hyper-realistic sculpture.

The reconstruction now on display at the Universidad Católica de Santa María in Arequipa shows his mouth slightly open and his dark, piercing eyes staring into the distance. It includes colorful clothing, headdresses and decorations, also based on scans of the mummy.

Since 2018, this international team of archaeologists and scientists have studied tomography scans of his body, DNA studies and his ethnological characteristics, age and complexion, and with modern forensic techniques. Oscar NilssonSwedish archaeologist and plastic artist, carried out this realistic reconstruction, which was presented this week in Arequipa.

Scientist Dagmara Socha, archaeologist from the team at the Center for Andean Studies in Warsaw, explained that the construction of the Inca girl’s face was very emotional, because “It is as if this minor who lived 500 years ago had been resurrected«, they point out in the UCSM.

The discoverer of the Lady of Ampato, Johan Reinhard, was very shocked. He commented that he always imagined what the Inca maiden’s face would be like and now he has fulfilled her wish. “She has been done in a magnificent way,” he said in a statement reported by Reuters, adding that the reconstruction was especially striking since her face had been exposed to the elements and, as a result, was not well preserved.

«Seeing her face like when she was alive is a different experience because it seems very real“, said.

The rite of the Capacocha

‘Juanita’ was between 13 and 15 years old and was a healthy girl when she received a blow to the right occipital part of her skull, from a person who used all the force with his right hand. Her death was instantaneous. She was part of the ritual called Capacocha.

The Catholic University of Santa María explains in a note that this ceremony promoted by the Inca was one of the most important rituals of the Tawantinsuyu empire and consisted of making offerings of request or gratitude to the sun, although it was also carried out on special occasions, such as a natural disaster.

The central part of this magical-religious rite was the sacrifice of a minor at the top of the volcano as an offering to the gods. The body was always accompanied by a series of offerings such as ceramic miniatures, precious metals, textiles or unique sea shells that came from different parts of the empire. According to Inca belief, the children offered did not die, but were reunited with their ancestors.who watched from the tops of the high mountains.

Peruvian and Polish scientists studied the documentation of the bodies and objects found in Ampato, as well as in the snow-capped volcanoes of Misti and Pichupichu, in Arequipa, where the Incas practiced this ritual.

The body of ‘Juanita’ was accompanied by 37 ceramic objects decorated with geometric figures. Experts believe that these drawings, still being studied, could be a communication system developed by the Incas.

Among the offerings was also found a Aribaloa ceramic container to contain liquids that used to be large in size, although this one is only 8 centimeters high, so they believe that it was made for ceremonial use, like that of the Capacocha.