Kids fattened up for sacrifice
2007-10-02 07:08
London - Hair samples taken from child
mummies suggest the ancient Incas "fattened" up children chosen
for ritual sacrifice months before actually killing them,
British researchers said on Monday.
A chemical analysis of four mummies found high in the Andes
mountains also indicates the Incans took the children on a
lengthy pilgrimage prior to the killings, the team said. In the
case of the 15-year-old "Llullaillaco Maiden" the road to death
started at least 12 months before.
"We are looking at a process that began a considerable
amount of time before their death," said Andrew Wilson, an
archaeologist at the University of Bradford, who led the study.
"The maiden was essentially being fattened up or prepared for
her final fate at least 12 months before her killing."
The frozen mummies, some of them extremely well preserved,
come from the world's highest archaeological site and offer
insight into the victims' backgrounds and how they were elevated
in social status and prepared for the rituals.
The vast Inca empire, with its advanced culture and powerful
armies, spanned most of the Andes along South America's western
coast at the time of the Spanish conquest in the early 16th
century.
"This is the very first time we are hearing the account from
the individuals themselves - what they were eating and when
they were separated from their normal existence and set on this
path," Wilson said.
Food reserved for the elite
The researchers, who published their findings in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analysed hair
samples up to 25cm long in the children aged
six to 15.
This length represented about two-and-a-half years of hair
growth, which gave researchers a picture of the doomed
children's' lives over a fairly long period of time.
Changes in isotopes, or chemical signatures, in the earliest
samples showed the children were fed a steady diet of vegetables
typical of a peasant background, Wilson said.
But in the 12 months prior to sacrifice, the diet suddenly
changed to food reserved for the elite such as maize and meat,
likely representing the children's elevated status as offerings
to the gods, the researchers said.
Other isotopic changes indicate that in their final three or
four months, the children began a pilgrimage to the mountains,
likely from the Incan capital Cuzco after receiving ritual
haircuts, Wilson said.
The researchers do not know exactly how all the children
died, though at least one was killed by a blow to the head.
"It looks to us as though the children were led up to the
summit shrine in the culmination of a year-long rite, drugged
and then left to succumb to exposure," said Timothy Taylor, a
researcher at the University of Bradford.