volcano

A new study of botanical remains found with three mummified Inca children atop the Llullaillaco volcano has revealed that their sacrifice likely occurred around 1499, during a period of rapid Inca imperial expansion. The analysis of corn, cassava, and coca plants buried with the victims offers a more precise chronological framework for the famous capacocha ritual, linking the children's deaths to the reign of Emperor Huayna Capac and his political motivations to consolidate control over newly conquered territories. In 1999, archaeologists discovered the remarkably well-preserved remains of three children - a teenage girl known as the "Llullaillaco Maiden," a seven-year-old boy, and a six-year-old girl - near the 6,739-meter (22,109-foot) summit of the Llullaillaco volcano on the border of Argentina