X-Message-Number: 11521
Date: Tue, 06 Apr 1999 17:46:59 -0700
From: Tony Benjamin Csoka <>
Subject: Three near-perfect frozen Incan mummies found in Andes 
References: <>


> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (April 6, 1999 5:47 p.m. EDT 
http://www.nandotimes.com) - Three

> 500-year-old Inca mummies, apparently victims of a ritual sacrifice, have been

> discovered frozen and in near-perfect condition on an Andean volcano peak in 
northern
> Argentina. 
> 

> Johan Reinhard said Tuesday that the exceptionally well-preserved remains of 
two
> boys and a girl found last month atop the 22,000-foot Mount Llullaillaco near

> Argentina's border with Chile may offer scientists a rare opportunity to 
conduct DNA
> testing on centuries-old bodies. 
> 

> The mummies apparently contain frozen blood in their heart and lungs, which 
could

> reveal ground-breaking clues about diet, disease and conditions during the 
time of the
> Incas, the U.S. archaeologist said. 
> 

> Speaking with The Associated Press, he said the mummies had to be removed from
> under nearly six feet of dry rock and earth from a burial platform. 
> 

> Reinhard said two of the mummies were wrapped in intricately woven textiles, 
but an

> exact cause of death was not immediately clear. He said CAT scans of the 
mummies
> showed all of their internal organs were intact. 
> 

> "These bodies were frozen, as opposed to past bodies which were freeze-dried,"
said

> Reinhard, speaking in an interview from Salta, a northern Argentine city near 
the site.
> "They are very lifelike." 
> 

> "I expect that when we unwrap them, we will even be able to see the 
expressions on

> their faces," he said. "The arms looked perfect, even down to the peach fuzz 
hairs, and
> the CAT scans have shown that even the kidneys are intact." 
> 

> Scientists said the burial platform also held offerings to the Inca gods, 
including 35

> gold, silver and shell statues. Also recovered were ornate woven and 
embroidered
> textiles, moccasins and pottery, some still containing food. 
> 

> "Almost all of the statues are in a state of perfect preservation, including 
lids on the
> pottery and even food offerings of meat jerky," said Reinhard. 
> 

> The expeditionary force that recovered the mummies included American, 
Argentine and
> Peruvian researchers who had to brave sometimes extreme conditions such as

> snowstorms and high winds. A grant from the National Geographic Society 
partially
> funded the dig. 
> 
> Reinhard's crew needed 12 days at the volcano's peak to recover the bodies. 
> 

> Reinhard said he decided to search the area because he had read that Inca 
ruins had

> been found on Mount Llullaillaco, which he had climbed several times since 
1980. 
> 

> The three mummies are being kept at a university in Salta, where at least two 
of them

> are to remain until the Argentine government finishes building a research 
facility to
> house them next year. 
> 

> Reinhard said at least one body was expected to be sent to the United States 
for
> extensive testing. 
> 
> The discovery was the latest for Reinhard and his mummy hunters. 
> 

> Last September, they found six frozen mummies on the El Misti volcano in 
southern

> Peru, believed to be sacrificial offerings to Inca gods. That burial site 
included a rare

> find of ceremonial pots of gold and silver, shedding new light on ancient 
Indian culture. 
> 
> The Inca empire once stretched some 2,500 miles along South America's western
> coast from present-day Colombia to central Chile and an edge of northwestern

> Argentina. The 90-year empire collapsed in 1532 under the Spanish conquest. 
The
> Incas offered human sacrifices to their gods. 
> 
> Working in Peru in 1995, the same team of archaeologists led by Reinhard also

> discovered the so-called "Ice Maiden," then considered the best-preserved 
mummy of
> the pre-Columbian era. 
> 

> David Hunt, a physical anthropologist at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural 
History,
> said Tuesday that finding mummies so well-preserved is extraordinary. 
> 

> "What separates this discovery from other similar finds such as 'The Ice 
Maiden' is the

> presence of well-preserved soft tissue," Hunt said by telephone from 
Washington. 
> 

> "It's as if they had been placed in a giant deep freeze. We're really quite 
lucky that they're
> in such good condition."

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