For decades, it was thought that the cause of death of the child from Cerro El Plomo was hypothermia. The naturally freeze-dried body of a child from 560 years ago – approximately 8 years old – is now considered one of the most important anthropological artifacts in Chile and a testament to the Inca Empire.
He was found with his arms crossed around his legs and his head resting on his right shoulder and arm, as if he had fallen asleep that way. Researchers believed that he had consumed corn chicha or some other alcoholic or narcotic substance to induce sleep before ancient people placed him in his icy tomb. However, recent scientific studies have refuted this idea, suggesting that he died instead from head trauma.
“We’ve shattered the 70-year-old belief or myth that this child died peacefully,” says Mario Castro, director of the National Museum of Natural History of Chile (MNHN).
Inca Empire Ceremonies
This new understanding challenges everything that was known about Capacocha, one of the most important ceremonies of the Tawantinsuyu, or Inca Empire, in which children and adolescents were offered as a sign of gratitude to Inti, the god of the Sun, typically during the harvest month.
