The reconstructed head and torso of Peru’s most famous mummy was unveiled in a ceremony on Tuesday, revealing what experts believe the teenage girl may have looked like when she was alive.
The silicone bust, depicting the teenage girl with pronounced cheekbones, black eyes and tanned skin, was made by a team of Polish and Peruvian scientists working with a Swedish sculptor who specializes in facial reconstruction. She was unveiled at a ceremony at the Andean Sanctuaries Museum of the Catholic University of Santa Maria in Arequipa, The Associated Press reported.
National Geographic explorer Johan Reinhard first discovered the well-preserved mummy, called the “Ice Maiden of Ampato” or “Juanita,” in 1995 during an Andean expedition at an altitude of about 6,000 meters near the summit of the dormant Ampato volcano. The girl is believed to have been sacrificed more than 500 years ago in the Andes in a ritual intended to appease the Inca gods
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
The mummified girl, believed to have been around 13 to 15 years old at the time of her murder, had most of her hair, fingernails and the colorful robe she wore on her last day intact, but her face was preserved had weathered away with time when it was found. according to National Geographic.
WORKERS DISCOVER 8 MUMMIES AND PREINCA OBJECTS DURING EXPANSION OF THE GAS NETWORK IN PERU
A photo provided by the Catholic University of Santa Maria shows a reconstruction of the face of a young woman found frozen and mummified near the summit of Mount Ampato in the Peruvian Andes. (Manuel Ballivian Figueroa/Catholic University of Santa Maria via AP)
“I thought I would never know what her face looked like when she was alive,” US archaeologist Reinhard told the AP. “Now, 28 years later, this has become a reality thanks to Oscar Nilsson’s reconstruction.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Experts used digital scans of the mummy and other careful archaeological and forensic analysis to bring back her face and construct the bust replica that will be included in a new museum exhibition in the Andes. According to Portal, scientists believe the girl was sacrificed with a blow to the head in a ritual ceremony to seek divine help in natural disasters. The Inca Empire’s rule extended across western South America along the Pacific coast and the Andean highlands until the Spanish invaded in 1532.
Then-First Lady Hillary Clinton and Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Fujimori look at a 500-year-old mummy on display at the National Geographic Society in Washington on Tuesday, May 21, 1996. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)
Nilsson, a Swedish archaeologist and sculptor who specializes in 3D facial reconstructions of ancient people, told the AP that it took him “about 400 hours of work” to model the face.
Archaeologists in northern Peru uncover a 3,000-year-old tomb said to honor a priest
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Dagmara Socha, a Polish bioarchaeologist at the Center for Andean Studies at the University of Warsaw, said at the ceremony that the first step in obtaining Juanita’s face was to “obtain a replica of the skull.”
The Andean mummy “Princess of Ampato” rests in a glass case in an exhibit that opened May 21, 1996 at the headquarters of the National Geographic Society. (JOYCE NALTCHAYAN/AFP via Getty Images)
“Body scans, DNA studies, ethnological characteristics, age, skin color” were then used in the facial reconstruction, the university said in a statement.
According to anthropological studies, Juanita was sacrificed between 1440 and 1450 AD. She was 55 inches tall, weighed 77 pounds and was well fed. According to researchers at Johns Hopkins University who conducted a CT scan, the likely cause of death was a severe blow to the right occipital lobe.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Then-Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori points to a glass display case containing the Andean “Princess of Ampato” mummy during the opening ceremony of the exhibition at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, DC in 1996. (JOYCE NALTCHAYAN/AFP via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Reinhard, who has discovered more than 14 Inca human sacrifices high in the Andes, including three children in an ice pit at Argentina’s Llullaillaco volcano, said scientists have examined aspects of Juanita’s life, such as her diet and the items found next to her.
“These findings helped us better understand their lives and Inca culture,” he said. “Now we can see what she really looked like, which makes her even more alive.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
The Associated Press contributed to this report.