New Discovery! December 12 José Antonio Chávez continues excavation of the mummy bundle and artifacts. “Human sacrifices are very rare, and this is one of only about a half dozen ever to be excavated scientifically,” said National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Johan Reinhard, following last week’s discovery of a 500-year-old human sacrifice atop Peru’s Mount Ampato-the volcano where Reinhard discovered the frozen ice maiden in 1995. Only six weeks ago, I was hacking at frozen earth while on an expedition to the volcano Pichu Pichu in southern Peru. Our team, led by Reinhard and his Peruvian colleague José Antonio Chávez of the archaeology department at Catholic University in Arequipa, Peru, was searching for Inca burial remains on the summit. But as our expedition was ending, Johan and José were already thinking ahead to the Ampato excavation. This most recent discovery brings the number of sacrifices found on Ampato to four. “No other mountain has yielded four such victims,” Reinhard said. The new find—a skeleton wrapped in an Inca textile—was found close to where two other sacrifices were excavated two years ago. The flesh of this sacrifice may have burned away in a lightning strike or decomposed when the surrounding soil thawed. Although encamped on an icy ledge at 20,400 feet (6,216 meters), the team actually performed their excavation of the burial site at 19,300 feet (5,881 meters). Reinhard believes the Inca may have chosen this site because it was more accessible than the summit or because the children were less important “companions” to the ice maiden, who was originally entombed on the summit. A buried ceremonial jug alerted the team to the possibility of a significant find. They began picking at and shoveling the frozen earth to remove it. “Soon after that the child’s cranium was visible,” Reinhard said. Arcadio Mamani clears dirt away from the mummy bundle at 19,300 feet (5,881 meters) on Ampato. The six team members unearthed the skeleton along with a figurine made from spondylus shell. Lying in a small stone box, the figurine represents a female and leads the archaeologists to believe the human victim may also have been female. Along with the skeleton and the figurine, the team discovered four plates and two jugs. These artifacts are similar in design to those found with the other sacrifices on Ampato. Excavating and then transporting the remains and artifacts proved to be more difficult than in past years. Heavy snowfall and lightning storms hindered excavation. Compounding the problem was the return route to base camp. “This is the first time we’ve ever had to carry a mummy up to 20,000 feet (6,094 meters) just to get it back down,” Reinhard said. He was referring to the treacherous climb up to the summit camp and then the descent down the opposite side of Ampato to base camp. Using ropes and climbing irons, team members took turns carrying the 90—pound (41—kilogram) ice block containing the mummy. The discovery will be stored in Catholic University’s archaeology department, where studies continue under the direction of José Antonio Chávez and archaeologist Ruth Salas. Reinhard is currently preparing an article on the new discoveries for NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine. His work can be seen online at “Dr. Reinhard’s Journeys,” (http://reinhard.sympatico.ca) a Web site set up by Bell Sygma International. Yancey Hall nationalgeographic.com