A study reveals that Inca children who were sacrificed have been drugged with coca leaves. The child mummies were found in freezing heights on a southern Peruvian volcano as their last resting place.
It remained for 500 years a mystery, but in the 1990s, scientists analyzed this shocking ritual of human sacrifice.
Inca Children Were Sacrificed
An international team of researchers has discovered traces of the substance in their hair and nails, which suggest massive amounts of a psychedelic substance, introducing additional details to their fate, reported Science Alert.
Contextual and historical knowledge of Incas shows the unfortunate victims of the capacocha ritual were given stimulants, antidepressants, and sometimes alcohol as they accepted death, cited NCBI.
What emotions that children went through if they were proud, touched with anxiety, or confused and scared. The study suggests giving the victims hallucinogens to lessen their depressed states.
The specimens at the center of this latest study were discovered by US explorer Johan Reinhard and Peruvian archaeologist José Antonio Chávez during their explorations up the Ampato volcano in the Andes in 1995.
In 2019, the remains were discovered with a third body on the same plateau subjected to rigorous bio-archeological examination. They concluded that two were young males and a single female, ranging from 6 to 7 years old.
One of them had signs of malformation in a hole in one of his neck bones, placing him at risk of headaches, sudden loss of consciousness, and even blindness.
Researchers had found these bodies of sacrificed Inca children were drugged with coca leaves or intoxicated before being slain and discovered various states of preservation in the former Inca Empire. Most the human sacrifice is to appease gods, or ask for help and favors, noted PBS.
The children came from wealthy Incan families as representatives or emissaries. They were taken to a high place in the mountains taking days or months to travel to, where killing the sacrificial victims was done in many ways, but some froze to death.
A Study of the Inca Children Frozen Remains
Previously, indications of narcotic use among the remains were discovered in a few cases, pointing to the consumption of coca leaves and alcohol, as mentioned in PNAS.
The use of coca leaves to reduce hunger and stimulation of the nerves by chewing has been common for thousands of years. The study shows having the child sacrifice and taking it to the mountains is normal. Such leaves were still in their mouths, revealing that they had ingested them in large quantities with alcohol before their deaths.
Although, the realization of metabolites associated with taking ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis caapi) psychedelic brew is highly suggestive of a ceremony intended to soothe instead of stimulating. The researchers used mass spectrometry to identify coca alkaloids and metabolites, as well as harmaline and harmine, in two Ampato mummies' hair nails.
Harmaline and harmine came from compounds in B. caapi mixed with substances to make a brew causing vomiting and diarrhea, including hallucinations.
Tests to detect tryptamine N and N-DMT (hallucinogens) were negative, though it's hard to see if the victims had an effect taking it with a strong effect. No alcohol was found in the bodies as there was no trace in the nails and hair.
Some evidence left by Spanish colonizers or archeology, including artifacts in bodies and tissues of mummies, reveal a scary situation.
Inca children were sacrificed far away from home, thinking dying but drugged with coca leaves or intoxicated would bring them to nirvana, according to Science Direct.
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