Page 19 - Machu Picchu

The corn beer chicha and coca leaf, the plant These festivals en route to the mountain, Ver-
that contains cocaine, are prominent features ano noted, could explain why the Ice Maiden
of Andean culture, so finding their signature “is was drinking so much corn beer along with ele-
not a surprise in itself,” John Verano, an anthro- vated coca chewing in her final weeks.
pologist at Tulane University in New Orleans
who was not involved in the new study, told It’s also possible, he added, that “she had a
NBC News. drinking problem. Maybe she started drinking
beer the last year of her life and just found it
“But it is particularly interesting the level of de- to be pleasant or particularly soothing.”
tail at which (the researchers) are able to look
at it,” he added. “It allows them to hypothesize The mummies were discovered in 1999 and are
why the older child of the three was drinking so considered among the best preserved mum-
much chicha in her last month of life and what mies from anywhere in the world.
that might have indicated about her lifestyle
and activities.” The Ice Maiden was inside a tomb structure,
surrounded by offerings from the four cor-
According to Wilson, the story likely begins ners of the Inca empire such as seashells, bird
“far from the mountain” in the Inca capital of feathers, coca and corn. Her head is bowed as
Cusco, Peru, where the Ice Maiden was taken if she fell asleep, sedated, and succumbed to
to live “under the guardianship of priestess- the biting cold and thin air as is inevitable at
es” and passed her time weaving textiles and such altitude.
brewing chicha.
The levels of alcohol and coca are higher for
At about six months before death, there was the older girl, a finding that may “support the
a ceremony that involved ritual hair cutting — idea of her being calmed intentionally,” Verano
some clippings were found with the mummies said. “It could be that she had a better idea
— and that coincides with a peak in coca con- of what was going to happen to her. She was
sumption. older.”

The coca consumption and alcohol use then The data, he added, allows researchers to
begin to rise sharply again in the weeks be- better imagine the lives of these children, but
fore death, probably as the Ice Maiden and noted that their story is one of interpretation.
two younger children were marched from Cus- There are no eyewitness accounts.
co to the volcano, stopping along the way for
ceremonies that likely involved large amounts “For me,” Wilson said, “it really does send some-
of coca and chicha. what of a shiver down my spine … It is almost
the children being able to speak to us directly
The researchers suspect the Inca rulers want- through some of this data, some of the things
ed the sacrifice to be known throughout the they experienced.”
empire, which was expanding southward at the
time of the mummies’ death. The Llullaillacao
Volcano is at the empire’s southern extent.

“It is something that is designed to create this
climate of fear and to basically help build …
new allegiances,” Wilson said.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/sciencemain/inca-child-sacrifices-were-drunk-stoned-weeks-death-6C10784197
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19 / SEPT 2016 / ISSUU 08