Elegidos de los dioses: identidad y estatus en las víctimas sacrificiales del volcán Llullaillaco

Abstract

Chosen of the Gods: Identity and Status in the Sacrificial Victims from the Llullaillaco Volcano

Mummified children recovered from the summit of Llullaillaco volcano, in the Andes of Argentina, are an outstanding example of archaeological visibility of social actors, whose faces remain almost perfectly preserved half a millenium after their burial. The extraordinary preservation of the bioanthropological evidence from the Llullaillaco volcano has allowed scholars to undertake an archaeological approach towards topics such as social identity and status among the sacrificial victims in the Inca Empire. Interdisciplinary research on the frozen bodies of the young woman and the two infants from Llullaillaco, including Paleoradiological techniques (x-rays and cat-scans), Odontological studies, Paleopathological examination, DNA and hair analysis, has provided scientists with tangible results, that can be cross-checked with the information presented by the historical sources in relation to the sex and gender profile, physical beauty and social and ethnic origin of the children that the Inca priests would select as messengers into the world of the gods.