The Incas sacrificed their children

Hair samples taken from child mummies have led scientists to hypothesize that the Incas fattened children chosen to be sacrificed in religious ceremonies months before killing them. So say British researchers

Analysis of the chemical composition of four mummies found in the highlands of Peru indicates that the Incas took the children on a long pilgrimage before sacrificing them, new research reveals. In the case of a 15-year-old girl, the "Llullaillaco Maiden", the road to death took 12 months.
"We are looking at a process that began a considerable time before their death," says Andrew Wilson, an archaeologist at the University of Bradford, who led the study. "The girl was fed to obesity to prepare herself for her fate, at least 12 months before she was killed. The frozen mummies, some of them preserved in excellent condition, were found at the highest archaeological site in the world and provide a glimpse into the background of the affinity and how they rose in status and were prepared for ceremonies.
The vast Inca Empire, with its advanced culture and strong army, stretched along the Andes Mountains along the west coast of the South American continent, when the Spaniards conquered the area at the beginning of the 16th century. "This is the first time we hear about events from the participants in them - what they ate and when they were separated from their normal lives and started on the road," said Wilson.
The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), based their research on analyzing samples up to 25 centimeters long from the heads of children aged 6 to 15.
The length represents about two and a half years of hair growth, and this gave the researchers a picture of the children's lives over a long period of time. The changes in the isotopes, or chemical signature, in the first samples indicated that the children were fed a diet of vegetables that was common among the Inteka tribe, Wilson says. However, in the 12 months preceding the sacrifice, the children's diet changed to food that was acceptable to the elites, such as corn and meat, and this indicates that the status of the children was upgraded in preparation for giving them to the gods, the researchers say.
Some isotope changes become deaf again in the last three to four months of their lives. The children began their journey in the mountains, mainly from the Inca capital Cuzco after the ceremonial haircut. Investigators do not know exactly how all the children died, so at least one of them died from a blow to the head. "It seems that the children went to the temple on the top of the mountain for a year ceremony and they were drugged, and then surrendered to the kidnapping," says Timothy Taylor, a researcher at the University of Bradford.