“Three Inca children were sacrificed on a volcano at 6,739 metres, frozen for 500 years, and found so perfectly preserved they appeared to be sleeping.”
About Museum of High Altitude Archaeology
The children were discovered in 1999 by Johan Reinhard's expedition at the summit of Llullaillaco volcano. They were sacrificed in a capacocha ceremony approximately 500 years ago. The museum in Salta opened in 2004 to house and display the find. Scientific analysis continues to reveal details about Inca ritual practices and the children's lives before their deaths.
Overview
The Museum of High Altitude Archaeology (MAAM) in Salta, northwestern Argentina, is built around one of the most remarkable archaeological discoveries of the 20th century: the frozen bodies of three Inca children sacrificed on the summit of Volcan Llullaillaco at 6,739 metres above sea level, approximately 500 years ago. The preservation by volcanic ice is so complete that the children appear to be sleeping.
The preservation by volcanic ice is so complete that the children appear to be sleeping.
Frozen at the Top of the World for 500 Years
In 1999, an expedition led by Johan Reinhard reached the summit of Llullaillaco, one of the highest volcanoes in the Andes, and discovered the burial platform containing three children: a 15-year-old girl known as La Doncella, a 7-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl. They had been sacrificed in the Inca capacocha ceremony, a ritual offering to the mountain gods, and the extreme altitude and freezing conditions preserved their bodies, clothing, hair and internal organs in extraordinary detail. Analysis of hair samples revealed their diet in the months before death and the coca and chicha they were given. The museum in Salta displays one child at a time in a climate-controlled nitrogen case, rotating every six months, alongside the textiles, pottery and gold figurines found in the burial. The lighting is low, the cases are clinical, and the experience is sobering.
The Experience
The museum is deliberately clinical. You enter through galleries explaining the Inca capacocha ceremony and the mountain context before reaching the central display: a nitrogen-cooled case containing one of the three children. The preservation is startling and deeply affecting. The child's hair, skin and clothing look recent, not ancient. The gold figurines and textiles from the burial are displayed nearby. The experience raises ethical questions about displaying human remains, which the museum addresses directly.
Why It Matters
The Llullaillaco children are the best-preserved human remains from the pre-Columbian Americas and one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the late 20th century. They provide direct, physical evidence of Inca religious practices at the highest altitudes.
The Llullaillaco children are the best-preserved human remains from the pre-Columbian Americas and one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the late 20th century.
Why Visit
The most perfectly preserved Inca mummies ever found: three children sacrificed on a 6,739-metre volcano 500 years ago, displayed in a sobering Salta museum.
✦ Insider Tips
- 1
Prepare yourself; the preservation level is striking and emotional.
- 2
Read the gallery context before the main display.
- 3
Only one of the three children is displayed at a time.
- 4
Salta is a beautiful colonial city worth exploring beyond the museum.
