Scientists uncover a recreation of an Inca virgin who was sacrificed in Peru

ARIQIPA, Peru, Oct 24 (Reuters) – The reconstructed head and torso of a young girl likely sacrificed to appease Incan gods was unveiled in Peru on Tuesday, and 3D scans of her mummy helped produce a lifelike entertainment more than 500 years later. Her death.

Scientists from both Peru and Poland used digital scans of her well-preserved mummy, which was found in 1995 inside an Inca-era funerary package near the summit of Ambato Volcano outside Arequipa, in southern Peru.

The Incas ruled a wide swath of western South America along the Pacific coast and the Andean highlands, and saw their rich and powerful empire fall to Spanish conquistadors in 1532.

But sometime before that, the girl had been sacrificed by a blow to the head, perhaps in a ritual ritual seeking divine relief from natural disasters, according to scholars.

She is believed to have been called Lady Ambato, or simply Juanita, and was 14 or 15 years old.

The reconstruction now on display at the Catholic University of Santa Maria in Arequipa shows her mouth slightly open and piercing eyes staring into the distance. It includes colorful clothing, headdresses and adornments, similarly based on mummy scans.

“It was done in a wonderful way,” said archaeologist Johann Reinhard, who was part of the team that found the mummy, adding that the reconstruction was particularly eye-catching because its face had been exposed to the elements and as a result had not been well preserved. .

“Seeing her face as she was alive, it’s a different experience because it looks so real,” he said.

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