Silicon Sculpture Depicts Peru’s So-Called Inca Ice Maiden

News October 25, 2023

Peru Inca Ice Maiden
SHARE:

Peru Inca Ice MaidenAREQUIPA, PERU—BBC News reports that facial reconstruction specialist Oscar Nilsson and a team of researchers from Peru and Poland employed body scans, skull measurements, DNA studies, and ethnological characteristics to recreate the face of the 500-year-old mummy known as the “Inca Ice Maiden” out of silicon. The young woman’s frozen remains were discovered at an altitude of 21,000 feet in 1995 by archaeologist Johan Reinhard and Peruvian mountaineer Miguel Zárate. Thought to have been drugged and then killed with a blow to the back of the head, the teen was found wearing a ceremonial tunic and headpiece. Ceramic bowls and figurines were also recovered near her remains. The bust is now on display at the Andean Sanctuaries Museum of the Catholic University of Santa Maria. To read about the uncertain whereabouts of an Inca king’s mummy, go to “In Search of History’s Greatest Rulers: Atahualpa, Last Inca Emperor.”

  • Features September/October 2023

    Ukraine’s Lost Capital

    In 1708, Peter the Great destroyed Baturyn, a bastion of Cossack independence and culture

    Read Article
  • Letter from Vesuvius September/October 2023

    Digging on the Dark Side of the Volcano

    Survivors of the infamous disaster rebuilt their lives on the ashes of the A.D. 79 eruption

    Read Article
    (Courtesy Girolamo Ferdinando De Simone)
  • Artifacts September/October 2023

    Padlock

    Read Article
    (Courtesy James Davidson)
  • Digs & Discoveries September/October 2023

    Nose to Tail

    Read Article
    (Lisa See collection. The Huntington Library, San Marino, California)