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Momia Juanita (Spanish for "Mummy Juanita"), better known in English as the "Ice Maiden," is the frozen body of an Inca girl. She lived to be approximately 11–15 years old, and probably died sometime between 1450 and 1480.

She was discovered on Mount Ampato (part of the Andes cordillera) in southern Peru in 1995 by anthropologist Johan Reinhard and his Peruvian climbing partner Miguel Zarate. Also known as the Lady of Ampato and the Frozen Lady, Juanita has been on display in a museum in Arequipa, Peru, since 1996, except for one month in 1996 (see below) and when she was on tour in Japan in 1999.

"Juanita" was remarkably well-preserved after 500 years, making her one of the more important recent finds; indeed, this discovery was chosen by Time magazine, in 1995, as one of the world's top ten discoveries.

When initially weighed in Arequipa, the bundle containing "Juanita" weighed over 90 pounds. When they tried to lift it on Ampato's summit, Reinhard and Zarate realized that the heavy body mass was probably due to the freezing of the flesh. This preservation allowed biological tests to be run later on the lung, liver, and muscle tissue. These offered new insights into Inca health and nutrition during the reign of the Sapa Inca Pachacuti.

Discovery of the Ice Maiden, Juanita

Johan Reinhard had made various ascents in several mountain ranges, including the Himalayas (in Nepal), the Alps, and the Andes. As an archaeologist, he had studied Machu Picchu, Chavín, and the Nazca Lines. As part of his high-altitude archaeology project, he had made over 200 ascents above 17,000 ft in four Andean countries prior to the discovery of the Ice Maiden in 1995. These included excavations on several peaks in the region of Arequipa in southern Peru together with Peruvian archaeologist Jose Antonio Chavez. These mountains were the legendary homes of the Apus, mountain deities that Peruvians have feared and worshipped since before the time of the Inca.

In September 1995, during an ascent of Mt. Ampato (20,700 ft), Reinhard and Miguel Zárate, one of his climbing companions from previous expeditions, found inside the crater a bundle that had fallen from an Inca site on the summit. Owing to melting caused by volcanic ash from the nearby erupting volcano of Sabancaya, most of the Inca burial site had collapsed down a gully that led into the crater. To their astonishment, the bundle turned out to contain a remarkably well-preserved body of a young girl. In addition, they found—strewn about the mountain slope down which the body had fallen— many items that had been left as offerings to the Inca gods; these included statues and food items. A couple of days later, the body and the objects were taken to Arequipa. The body was initially kept in a special refrigerator at Catholic University, where Chavez was Director of the Archaeology Department.

The body caused a sensation in the scientific world due to its well-preserved condition. Between May and June 1996, it was exhibited in the headquarters of National Geographic Society in Washington D.C., in a specially acclimatized conservation/display unit engineered by the Carrier Corporation, which donated two of these units to Catholic University. In its June, 1996, issue, National Geographic included an article dedicated to the discovery of Juanita, and in 2005, Johan Reinhard published a detailed account in his book The Ice Maiden.". The Ice Maiden is currently on display for part of the year at Catholic University's Museum of Andean Sanctuaries (Museo Santuarios Andinos) in Arequipa.

Cause of Death

Juanita was presumably killed as an offering to the mountain deity of Ampato, and her discovery, along with the other bodies of children found on the mountain, proves that Incas did perform human sacrifices on special occasions. She may have been specially selected for this role while a young girl, and may have had a pampered upbringing until she was taken to be sacrificed, when it was believed that her spirit would live on with the gods in the afterlife and she would herself have become deified and worshiped by local indigenous peoples. She was killed by a blow to the head.

References

This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please help improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (November 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

• Reinhard, Johan:

Inca Mummies, Mountain Gods, and Sacred Sites in the Andes. 2005, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.

• Reinhard, Johan: Peru’s Ice Maidens. National Geographic 189(6) (June): 62-81, 1996.
• Reinhard, Johan: Sharp Eyes of Science Probe the Mummies of Peru. National Geographic 191 (1) (January): 36-43, 1997.
• Reinhard, Johan: Discovering the Inca Ice Maiden. National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C., 1998.
• Reinhard, Johan: New Inca Mummies. National Geographic 194 (1) (July): 128-135, 1998.

See also

• Plomo Mummy
• Ötzi the Iceman

• Archaeological artefacts
• Human remains (archaeological)