New research suggests a female mummy was ritually sacrificed 500 years ago in South America.
The mummy was msot likely in her early 20s when she was killed. Researchers analyzed her skull and found she had died extremely quickly from a blow to the head, BBC News reported.
A DNA analysis of the body also revealed the woman suffered from a parisitic infection called Chagas disease. Her case was severe, suggesting her life would not have been long even if she hadn't been sacrificed.
The infection suggests the woman came from humble roots.
"The parasite lives in mud-brick walls typical of those from lower social classes, not in stone houses or better equipped, cleaner surroundings," Andreas Nerlich, co-author of the study from Munich University, told BBC News.
The mummy was first acquired by Princess Therese of Bavaria in the 1890s; one was misplaced but the other was Bavarian State Archaeological Collection in Munich, LiveScience reported.
Before now little was known about the mummy, but a new analysis revealed a fractured skull that was not visible from the outside. The woman also suffered from problems with digestion and breathing as a result of her condition.
"She might have been chosen as a victim for a ritual murder, because she was so ill and it might have been clear that she might have lived only for a relatively short period," Nerlich told LiveScience.
Researchers are not sure exactly where the girl was from since her existence is not well documented before the mummy ended up in Germany, the BBC reported. Isotope analysis of both her bones and hair suggest she ate a diet consisting mostly of fish, suggesting she lived on the Peruvian or Northern Chilean coast. The material used to fasten her braids also originated in South America.
In the Incan empire girls were often sacrificed to the sun gods while their parents would rise to be well respected members of the community. This mummy was older than the usual sacrifice subject; girls who were killed tended to be around the age of 13 or 14.
"It is important to recognise the historical context of this mummy. The radiocarbon dates cover the period of the Spanish conquest of the Americas," Emma Brown from the department of archaeological sciences at the University of Bradford, told the BBC."Historical records describe repressive and extreme forms of violence and recent bio-archaeological investigations of conquest-era cemeteries have revealed that many types of trauma, including massive blunt force cranial trauma [shown here] are quite common," she added.
