Page 18 - Machu Picchu

ICE MAIDEN

AN INCA MUMMY

Three Inca children found mummified atop a The coca leaf and corn beer consumption rises
20,000-foot volcano in South America consumed about six months before death and then skyrock-
increasing amounts of coca leaf and corn beer for ets in the final weeks, especially for the eldest, a
up to a year before they were sacrificed, according 13-year-old girl known as the “Ice Maiden.”
to a new study.
“She was probably heavily sedated by the point at
Sedation by the plant and alcohol combined with which she succumbs to death,” Andrew Wilson, an
the frigid, high-altitude setting may explain how archaeologist at the University of Bradford in the
the children were killed. There is no evidence for United Kingdom and the study’s lead author, told
direct violence, the researchers noted. NBC News.

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