The Ice Maiden Mummy

Over 500 years ago a 14 year old girl was sacrificed for and by her people on the 20,000 foot peak Ampato in the Andes surrounded by Incan priests.  Her body was wrapped in a blanket, tied into a bundle and buried.  At that height she froze quickly, becoming a natural mummy.  In 1995 Johan Reinhard, a high altitude archaeologist, was climbing Ampato to view the eruption of a neighboring volcano when he and his climbing partner came upon the famed mummy bundle.  It was the eruption itself that melted the ice and freed "Juanita", the name given to her in honor of the man who found her (Johan in Spanish is Juan, the female variant being Juanita).

Years ago I watched a documentary about the Ice Maiden and have always hoped to see her.  This trip has brought me not only to the city with the Catholic University Museum holding the mummy bundle, but the hotel is just two blocks away.  For anyone traveling to Arequipa, this is a very easy museum to reach, but it can be a challenge to find the actual entrance.  In order to view the mummy you must take a guided tour, preceded by a 20 minute National Geographic movie about the expedition, preservation and looking back to the sacrifice ritual. 

I am very glad I saw the Ice Maiden and the museum, but it does leave a person a bit melancholy to look upon the face of a young girl whose entire life was waiting for the call to be sacrificed to appease the mountain gods. "Juanita" was sent to he world of the gods when the volcano was erupting and the priests were trying to make the gods once again happy with her people.  She was to go live with the gods and act as a messenger between the two worlds. 

The children who were sacrificed were chosen by priests at birth and kept pure, being sacrificed when they were no more than 16 years of age.  Most of the ladies on the tour were wiping away tears (there were only two guys, both there at the behest of their own princesses). The photos I found online are a much better visual due to the triple layer of glass used to protect and maintain her frozen state and a very high humidity level. The case is a bit "cloudy", literally, which gives an eerie, mystical feel.  How appropriate. 

For more information about the Ice Maiden I suggest you read the book that I have been enjoying Ice Maiden written by Johan Reinhard, available in book and eBook form.