500- Year-Old Inca Mummy was Probably Sacrificed, Researchers Say

A new study has shown that the mummy that has resided in Germany since 1898 was an Inca woman who was sacrificed by her people. The woman also suffered from Chagas disease.

The mummy was earlier considered to be a German bog body. But, latest study that included radiocarbon dating, DNA analysis and forensic reconstruction has shown that the mummy was actually a woman belonging to the Inca people and was probably sacrificed around 500 years ago. Researchers also found that she suffered from chronic Chagas disease.

The Mummy                                                                         

A Bavarian princess brought two Inca mummies back in 1898. One of them was lost while the other wound up at Bavarian State Archaeological Collection in Munich, nbcnews reported. The mummy has since then been a mystery to archaeologists. Who was she? And, how did she die?

In the present study, Andreas Nerlich from Munich University and colleagues put the Inca mummy through a computed tomography (CT) scanner to find the cause of her death.

Analysis of the remains showed that the woman might have lived around 1450 - 1640 AD. She had a skull that was typical of the Inca people.

Her skull showed signs of blunt trauma, which might have occurred before her death. According to the researchers, the young woman might have been a victim of "ritual homicide."

"She might have been chosen as a victim for a ritual murder, because she was so ill and it might have been clear that she might have lived only for a relatively short period," Nerlich said, according to nbcnews.

Radiocarbon dating showed that the woman was around 25 years old at the time of her death. Analysis of the hair bands showed that the fiber was from llama or alpaca. Nitrogen and carbon isotopes showed that her diet included maize and seafood, meaning that she might have lived in coastal Peru or Chile, according to a news release.

Thickening of heart, intestines and rectum showed that she suffered from Chagas disease- a tropical disease common in South and Central America.

The study is published in the journal PLOS One.

Emma Brown from the department of archaeological sciences at the University of Bradford, UK, said that the data supporting the idea that the Inca woman was killed is still insufficient.

"This individual is older than the usual profile of ritually killed females, who are typically around the age of 13 or 14," Dr Brown told the BBC."It is important to recognise the historical context of this mummy. The radiocarbon dates cover the period of the Spanish conquest of the Americas.