An incredible discovery by archaeologists: an Inca girl who is more than 500 years old

A teenage girl of 14-15 years old, who was sacrificed about 500 years ago, has been lying in ice on the top of a six-thousand-meter peak for all the past centuries, which contributed to excellent preservation. Next to her, the frozen bodies of two more young victims were found: a seven-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl.

Instead of traditional DNA analysis, the scientists studied proteins in the tissues and found that the apparently healthy girl had a bacterial lung infection resembling tuberculosis. For the first time, the infection was detected in a mummy.

A group of researchers from New York University (City University of New York), led by Angelique Corthals, studied samples of the mummy (the so-called Maiden, "Maiden").

The unique mummy was discovered in 1999 on the slope of the Llullaillaco volcano, which rises 6739 meters above sea level on the border of Argentina and Chile.

Three mummies were found, which, unlike the embalmed Egyptian "colleagues", were subjected to deep freezing. The body of a seven-year-old boy also began to be studied, but scientists have not yet decided to investigate the remains of a six-year-old girl. Probably, it was once struck by lightning, which may affect the accuracy of the results of the study.

Most likely, three children were sacrificed, as evidenced by the artifacts located next to them: gold, silver, clothes, bowls of food and an extravagant headdress made of white feathers of unknown birds.

Historians suggest that children were chosen by the Incas for their beauty (in addition, children were considered purer beings than adults). The Incas didn't sacrifice children that often.

In the course of previous studies, it was found that before sacrificing children, for a year they were fed "elite" products - maize and dried llama meat, although before that they ate exclusively peasant food consisting of potatoes and vegetables.