A young woman was sacrificed and frozen for 500 years in the Andes Mountains. Her body was well preserved in the cold even better than the Iceman we read about at the beginning of the year since she wasn't there as long before being discovered.
Five hundred years ago, a teenage girl was sacrificed and buried near the Andes Mountains. Over 500 years later her well preserved frozen body was discovered. She is known by the names — the “Ice Maiden and Juanita. One of the Inca rituals was the human sacrifice of children. The ritual was carried out to keep the gods happy and protect the community from disasters such as droughts, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.
A team of researchers collaborated to make a 3D reconstruction of Juanita’s face. The reconstruction is part of an exhibit at a museum in Peru called “Capacocha, following the Inca Divinities.” The real Juanita or ice mummy is very carefully preserved and kept in a chamber set at minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit for all to see too.
Studies have revealed that Juanita was a healthy girl between 13 and 15 years old when she died from a blow to the head. She was buried in ceremonial clothing, along with ceramic objects, gold and silver female figures, a shell, food, woven bags and pottery.
In 2018, a team of archaeologists began a five-year project to research Juanita. During their work, the team discovered some of the children and women chewed coca leaves and drank a special drink in the weeks before their deaths. The findings suggest that the special drink was used to reduce anxiety before their death. The people chosen for sacrifice knew months ahead of time that they would die in a huge ceremony.
The team conducted CT scans of Juanita in 2022 and used the results to create a 3D model of her skull for reconstruction. They combined the CT scans with research about her age, complexion and other characteristics to create digital images. They used tissue depth markers based on the measurements of her skull , which included high cheekbones. This process of bringing Juanita’s face to life took six months and 400 hours was spent working on the model.