Cusco: View of the Cathedral
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Inca female figurine buried with sacrificed child, Cerro el Plomo, Chile, c1500
Cusco and Machu Picchu are both historical sites of great cultural importance. Finding Machu Picchu was one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of its time and has allowed us to glimpse into the daily lives of ancient Incan civilization. Yet there have been other incredible discoveries on the high snow-tipped peaks of the Andes: mummies. We’re not talking about the scary mummies that chase Brendan Frasier around Egypt in Hollywood adventure films. Incredibly preserved, the Incan mummies of the Andes have taught us much about ancient rituals, clothing, lifestyle, beliefs and daily habits without once chasing us through dark passages or inflicting us with plagues.
Probably the most famous of these mummies is Juanita, also known as the Inca Ice Maiden and Lady of Ampato, who was found in southern Peru in 1995 on the summit of Mount Ampato. Not the first child mummy to be found in the Andes (the first was found in Chile in the 1950s), Juanita is by far the best preserved. Not typically mummified, she was actually frozen in a process that has preserved her hair, skin, organs, clothes and even the contents of her stomach.
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