The Main Dish

The Llullaillaco Maiden, the most well known of the Incan sacrificial mummies, found atop Mount Llullaillaco.



This mummy, discovered atop the frozen peak of Mount Llullaillaco in 1999 by Johan Reinhard. Called simple the Llullaillaco Maiden, she is probably the most well known of the “ice mummies” discovered on Llullaillaco in what was previously the Incan empire, and certainly the best preserved mummy we have. The Lllullaillaco Maiden was sacrificed along with another girl and boy in a ritual known as Capacocha sometime between the late 15th and early 16th century. But just how often did such sacrifices take place, and who were the chosen victims?
Human sacrifice, and more specifically child sacrifice was an extremely common and important ritual in Incan society. Sacrifices were held for any number of reasons, some happening yearly during the Qapac Raymi festival, which also saw the sacrifice of thousands llamas. Child sacrifice was considered an important way to placate or get assistance from the gods, and was often connected to important moments in the life of the emperor. When he was crowned, when he was married, when the queen had a son, when he embarked on a war, when he fell ill, when he died, all of these circumstances were call for a capacocha. Although a sacrifice might also take place in dire times, such as during a famine or other sort of disaster, it was most commonly performed for the emperors sake.
Capacocha children were chosen by an official who would view all the children in a town and choose only the most beautiful, completely free of any blemishes or other skin imperfections to come back to Cuzco with him. Boys were generally between the ages of 4-11 and girls were generally 4-14, and always virgins. Occasionally an “aqllakuna” or chosen woman would be sacrificed instead of a common child. The aqllakuna were holy virgins who spent their lives weaving exquisite cloths in a closely guarded temple, until their 14th birthday when they would either be married to a nobleman, made a priestess or be sacrificed in a capacocha. The chosen victims would be taken back to Cuzco where there would be a great celebration in their honor, and they would be dressed and groomed as elites. The boys were dressed very similarly to adult noblemen and the girls were dressed as aqllakuna.
Part of the grooming would involve the cutting of hair, which would be buried with the victim’s body. Saving the first cuttings of an infant’s hair to be kept until death was a common practice in Incan culture, so this cutting may hold a symbolic purpose of a ‘rebirth’ if you will into a higher status. Analysis of the Maiden’s hair show she had a dramatic change in diet roughly 6 months before her death (about the same time the hair found buried with her was cut) from mostly potatoes to corn and llama meat. It could be that these children had to be made a higher status by dressing them fabulously and giving them decadent meals not only to make them worthy offerings, but to save actual high status children from being sacrificed.
After their celebrations ended, these chosen children had to make the journey to the huaca, or sacred site, they would be killed at. For some it was a relatively short travel, but in the Llullailaco Maiden’s case the trek took about 3 months. Further rituals commenced when they arrived at the huaca, and they would then be either strangled or given a nice blow to the head, although one poor boy died from being wrapped so tightly in cloth that his ribs broke and he was crushed, perhaps a sign of too much struggle.
All of this was seen as absolutely vital to running the empire. The economy, the weather, the very flow of the rivers was seen as intimately linked with human sacrifice.

Mount Llullaillaco, an impressive peak rising out of a long stretch of plains in Chile. Not only is it the second highest mountain in Chile, it’s volcanic, both important factors for the site of sacrificial rituals.

The location of the sacrifices is key, as they were all performed at huacas. Huacas were sites that were sacred either because a sacred object or temple or simply an impressive natural spots believed to hold spirits. There are innumerable huacas throughout the Inca empire, so only the most powerful and important huacas would be the site of human sacrifice. Although offerings were left at all huacas during a capacocha, smaller, less powerful huacas would receive animal sacrifices or material goods instead of children. At least 19 bodies have been discovered on mountain tops, which have been worshipped in the Andes for millennia. Traditionally they have been seen as living entities that must be respected and kept in good relations with the people in order for water and other resources to be given. By Inca times, there was doubt that powerful gods such as Illapa, the thunder god, were present at such locations, and that human sacrifices were absolutely necessary to appease them and keep the empire running. Child sacrifice was tied to all sorts of events, such as the weather, fertility of the population, the health of crops, the economy and even the flow of rivers was believed to be kept in balance by sacrificing children to the gods inhabiting huacas. Documented sites of sacrifice certainly include many mountains such as Mt. Llullaillaco and Sara Sara, but also include the Salinas Grande salt flat where the sopified body of a young boy was found, and the temple Pachacamac, where the bodies of multiple aqllakuna or “chosen women” were originally discovered by Max Uhle, and further sacrifice victims have been discovered there more recently.

A map showing sites of sacrifice in the Incan Empire, from “Inka Sacrifice And The Mummy Of Salinas Grandes” Thomas Besom, Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 21, No. 4 (December 2010), pp. 480


Although the Spanish historical sources Bestanzo and Hernandez Principe both said that the children of local rulers were candidates for capacocha sacrifice, there is evidence that lower born children could act as substitutes with the right ritual preparation. Capacocha victims were often buried with a bag of hair clippings. These clippings were chemically tested along with clippings from four victims heads by a group of researchers and it was found that it each case the bagged hair was cut several months to a year before the death of the individual and that after this event the child’s diet changed quite dramatically. In the case of our heroine, the Llullaillaco Maiden, her hair was clipped six months before her death and after that time her diet changed from one consisting mostly of potatoes, the diet of a peasant, to one much more reliant on meat and corn. It was common practice to save the first clippings of an infant’s hair to be buried with that person at the time of death, so it is possible that this cutting shortly before a dramatic lifestyle change was meant to mark the point where a new, high status life began. The children were also luxuriously adorned, and were always buried with either fine clothing, statues, feathers, spondylus shells, jewelry of precious metals or a combination of several. Our heroine’s hair was finely and intricately braided shortly before her death and her and other children were often dressed as nobles. This evidence together seems to point to a ritual raise in status, making the chosen children worthy of sacrifice and saving a child who was born high status from being sacrificed.

The mummy of the younger girl found at Llullaillaco and the grave goods she was buried with; her grave and body were the most richly adorned of the three, indicating she may have been the highest status of the children sacrificed.


But was this instance the rule or the exception? Analysis of the two other children found at Llullaillaco with the Maiden suggests that she may have been the only one who experienced a status change before her death. While our heroine’s diet changed dramatically, the other young boy and girl found only experienced a small change before death. CT scans of all three mummies also showed that none of them showed signs of malnutrition, and had strong, healthy bones and muscles. This evidence points to the conclusion that the two younger children at least were already high status when they were selected for sacrifice. More interesting evidence comes from the fact that the three children’s places of residence before their selection was determined, with the two younger children originating right in Cuzco, while the Llullaillaco Maiden originated in the southernmost reaches of the empire. This is interesting because she was killed at a time when the Inca empire was just extending into this region. With this in mind, it’s possible that our heroine could have been a political gift, a peace offering to stay on good terms with the Sapa Inca, the conqueror.

A reenactment of the festival Inti Raymi, which celebrated the sun god Inti, performed annually in Cuzco. The performance is a good example of what an Inca celebration ritual may have looked like.

It’s very likely that the capacocha ritual was a political performance, as much as a ritual one. It was carefully chosen to be performed at key times of stress, and also at times of celebration such as the birth of an emperor’s son, both to show the power of the Inca. Spanish accounts tell us that local lords could essentially trade their children in return for political status, as in the case of Tanta Carhua. Tanta Carhua was apparently given as a capacocha victim by her father, who was made kuraka of his ayllu and apparently also received government help on building a canal. In this way, not only can ethnically non-Inca regions and polities take part in the glory of an Incan ritual in the glory of the Incan capital, it create a close relationship between the capital and these far reaching areas. The local people sacrifice a child to the capital in return for assistance and political power, but it also establishes a close link between the two areas allowing the capital to exert its power in the areas which give tribute. Although the capacocha ritual clearly had strong religious significance, it was also a powerful political device for the empire.