Argentina Museum Displays Incan Mummy

Museumgoers gasped Thursday at the well-preserved mummy of an Inca maiden which is on display for the first time, a serene gaze etched on her face hundreds of years ago when she froze to death in the Andes.

Hundreds of people packed a museum in Salta, Argentina, to see "la Doncella" — Spanish for "the Maiden" — a 15-year-old girl whose remains were found in 1999 in an icy pit on Llullaillaco volcano, along with a 6-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy.

Scientists believe the so-called Children of Llullaillaco were sacrificed more than 500 years ago in a ceremony marking the annual corn harvest. Dressed in fine clothes and given corn alcohol to put them to sleep, the victims were then left to die at an elevation of 22,080 feet.

"Just this morning we have had more than 700 people come see the exhibit, and we had hundreds yesterday when it opened," said High Mountain Archaeological Museum director Gabriel Miremont.

The mummy is kept in a chamber that pumps chilled air through a low-oxygen atmosphere, simulating the subfreezing conditions where it was found. The other two children are being studied and not on display.

Seated with her legs bent and her arms resting on her stomach, the Maiden's remains are still adorned with a gray shawl and bone and metal ornaments. Scientists say her face was daubed with red pigment and around her mouth they found flecks of coca leaf, which is chewed by highland Indians to blunt the effects of altitude.

The Children of Llullaillaco were found at the highest elevation ever discovered for sacrificial victims of the former Inca empire, which ran along the Andes from present-day northern Argentina to Peru.

Several Indian groups waged a losing campaign to prevent the remains from going on display, arguing that the mummies should be buried or at least kept from public view.

The exhibit is a "great mistake," said Miguel Suarez, a representative of the Calchaquies valley tribes in and around Salta.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070906/ap_on_sc/argentina_mummy

I have a few problems with this story, the first being that the title was not capitalized in the original, unedited version on Yahoo.com. I fixed that when I cut and pasted  this story onto my blog. I should have known then that this blog would be all downhill from there, after all if these people can't even capitalize a title correctly, how on earth could they possibly make a good decision regarding this issue?

 

My second problem is that La Doncella is not a maiden- she's a mummy, a frozen corpse. That means dead, normally we do not display our dead. Why then, will someone please tell me, is it okay to display dead Indians? The answer is that is it not okay, not in any way shape or form. Not even if the dead are from the Egyptian pyramids and have a fancy sarcophagus to rest in. They are dead- let them go, let them rest in peace.

-And before anyone points out taxidermy, again I will remind everyone that these are people, not animals to be used as clothing- or for any other use such as food. We're not talking about winter shed antlers, naturally deceased animals or roadkill. Let me make this clear- I do no support trophy hunting in any way shape or form. I do however support hunting if you're going to eat what ever it is you're going to kill. I do not support stuffing animal skins for the sheer enjoyment of looking at their dead, lifeless bodies complete with glass eyes.

I digress, the issue at hand is the display of a person, gone long ago, for the enjoyment of the public. Have these museum officials no shame? What can possibly be gained, other than cash and exploitation, from the debacle that is currently on display in Argentina?

Third, these children were murdered as part of a sacrifice, or so we're told. I'm sure no one on the museum panel was around to document their deaths but then you never know how these people come up with their conclusions.

I agree with Sr. Suarez, this is exhibit is a "great mistake", a grave injustice (and I meant that play on words), and an insult to any indigenous person, living or 'dead'. Nothing good will come of this. To study the past is one thing, to make a mockery of it is a curse waiting to be let loose upon those who perpetuate such misdeeds.

For anyone interested there are actual pictures of this atrocity. If these children were victims of the Holocaust they wouldn't be on display. If they were the remains of 9/11 victims they again wouldn't be on display. So what is it that makes it okay to display this girl now? The passage of time? The fact that she's an Indian?

I'll let you be the judge, but if this were your relative would you want her on display?