The highest Archaeological site on earth - Llullailaco volcano At 6739m, Llulaillaco volcano is the

The highest Archaeological site on earth - Llullailaco volcano At 6739m, Llulaillaco volcano is the highest archaeological site as well as the highest active volcano on earth. The peak’s name comes from Llulla (=dirty/muddy) and yacu(=water). In 1999 Archaeologist Johan Reinhard retrieved the mummified bodies of three Inca children, a 15 year old girl (Llulailaco maiden), a 7-year old boy (Llullailaco boy) and a 6 year old girl (Lightning girl since she was struck by lightning after her death) believed to have been sacrificed on the volcano 500 years prior. The volcano is located in one of the driest areas in the world, a NASA astrobiologist has even compared the conditions on the volcano to those on Mars. The mummies are considered to be the best preserved ever discovered. The bodies of the children were buried in pit tombs 1.7 m deep and contained numerous grave goods as textiles, gold and silver statuettes, pottery and headdresses. It is apparent that the children did not die from natural causes. The boy was tightly bound in textiles suggesting he died from suffocation and in his stomach traces of the hallucinate achiote were found. The young girl had drunk chichi (maize beer) and ate coca leaves. This could imply that the children were drugged before being taken up the mountain against mountain sickness or for other more morbid reasons. Stable isotope and DNA research has revealed that the children were well-fed (or perhaps even fattened) before being led to the top of the volcano. The Inca saw the mountains as the major deities, especially active volcanoes that spat fire and smoke and were high enough to attract lightning. In addition to tombs, stone shrines and altars were build on mountaintops. Numerous (Spanish Conquistador) sources speak of specially selected children that were sacrificed on top of mountain to satisfy the deities. Before the actual sacrifice, the children went trough a variety of rituals. So far the Andes displays over a 100 ritual Inca sites on mountain tops ranging between 5200-6700m. Of these fourteen sites contained human sacrifices discovered by Johan Reinhard.. Pictures and more information on the mummies can be found here.The mummies are currently on display at the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology in Salta, Argentina. -The Earth Story Image: Johan Reinhard. The image show a team of archaeologist excavating on top of Llullailaco. -- source link

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