The story of the 500 year old frozen girl The Inca girl was only 15 years old and has been nick named 'the maiden'.Her frozen body was found in 1999 on the Argentinian volcano llullaillaco, which i cant pronounce.This volcano has a 6739 meter high summit and was being explored at the time when the expedition came across the inca girl. She was chosen by the inca people to live with her gods. But in reality she was sacrificed to the gods for religion. The body of the girl is perfectly preserved and looks as if she died very recently, but in fact the poor girl had died around 500 years ago. Scientists where able to determine her diet by examining the proteins in her hair that had been preserved for all those years. It turns out that she had a very fattening and full diet for months maybe even years before she was sacrificed. The inca would sacrifice children after an important event as an offering to there gods. The children would be taken to the high mountain tops, fed coca leaves on the way and then given a intoxicating drink at the burial site. When they where intoxicated the inca priests would of killed them by strangulation or a blow to the head. sometimes they would of been left to freeze to death. Recently scientists have discovered that the 500 year old frozen girl had a bacterial infection when she was sacrificed. They say that the illness is similar to tuberculosis and that the discover was made by swabbing the lips of the girl and comparing the sample with current patients. Scientists think that by discovering this bacteria it could help to fight new illnesses or reemerging illnesses. So even though this poor girl died 500 years ago. Her sacrifice could help to cure some diseases that are affecting modern people.
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