La Doncella
This is amazing but very sad at the same time. The perfectly preserved, frozen body of a 15-year old Incan girl has been put on display in a museum in Argentina. She died more than 500 years ago, but the hairs on her arms are still intact. She is called La Doncella.
She died over 500 years ago yet, with her hands resting on her lap and head falling forward so that her finely braided hair slips across her eyes, this 15-year-old girl looks as peaceful as if she has just fallen into a sleep from which she might wake at any moment.
Her frozen body has been hailed as one of the best preserved Incan mummies ever found and, this week, she went on public display for the first time in the High Mountain Archaeological Museum in Argentina.
Visitors to the museum have been peering at the downy hairs still visible on her arms, the perfectly intact skin on her face and the lice that must have been scurrying through her hair when she died and are still lodged there.
Along with the remains of two younger children, the teenager was plucked from the slopes of a cloudswept volcano in 1999 by a team who battled for three days through driving blizzards and 70mph winds to reach the summit 22,000ft above sea level.
There, the archaeologists spotted a rectangular walled area, dug down through five feet of rocks and soil and finally uncovered an Incan burial platform.
One of the team was lowered headfirst into the icy pit, his colleagues hanging onto his ankles, so that he could scrape away the soil and pull the dead children out with his hands.
She looks as though she just fell asleep in an awkward position but could wake up at any moment and pick up her life where she left off. The pictures are stunning. But her body is displayed in a special case that keeps her forever at -20° C.
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Blue Crab Boulevard » “La Doncella” Revisited — Saturday, 8 September , 2007 @ 9:29 pm
By Quilly Mammoth, Saturday, 8 September , 2007 @ 12:51 am
That gives me the creeps.
By yvette a mata, Saturday, 8 September , 2007 @ 3:10 am
i know that studies are being done on these children, ok i understand it is for educational matters, maybe. but would you want your fifteen year old daughter frozen and put on display for the world?? oh yeah check this out i found this girl frozen now lets show her off!!! that is disgusting and people have no feelings! she is human, was human, and should be treated like a human not some sort of stuffed animal.
By Lars Walker, Saturday, 8 September , 2007 @ 7:08 am
What troubles me is the emphasis on how “peaceful” she looks. This, I think, is a transparent attempt by the reporter to gloss over the fact that she died in terror, in a horrible blood ritual. It wouldn’t do to describe any religion that’s not Christianity as bloodthirsty, after all.
By Kate McCormick, Tuesday, 11 September , 2007 @ 5:44 am
Actually, she did die peacefully, because as part of the ceremony her sacrificers gave her maize beer before taking her up to the mountain, where she fell asleep, probably from both cold and drunkenness. Also, in Incan culture, it was an immense honor to be chosen for such a sacrifice. So she was probably pretty okay with the whole thing.
Part of an archaeologist job is not to make judgments about your findings based on your own cultural background. I’m not saying any part of any of this is right or wrong, but it important to keep the right perspective on things and not go jumping to conclusions before you have all the facts.
By Gaius, Tuesday, 11 September , 2007 @ 5:56 am
Sorry, Kate. I did know how she was killed - and she was killed. And I do not have to express my cultural awareness and sensitivity by feeling wonderful about a culture that sacrifices children. I guess I fail the PC test.
And I couldn’t care less.
By Shanecia, Thursday, 13 September , 2007 @ 11:49 am
I read that this child had children that were also found but are currently being studied. I also read that she was found along with a 7 year old as well as a 9 year old child. At what age do Incan women begin to bear children? Does anyone know? I am bewildered by this…
By Gaius, Thursday, 13 September , 2007 @ 11:53 am
It’s in the linked article. Three were found together. The 15-year old was the oldest of the three.