Unidentified Preserved Mummy with Chagas Disease was Sacrificed

The mysterious case of an unidentified mummy preserved in a German museum for more than a century has finally unraveled. The young woman was a victim of ritual sacrifice and suffered from the Chagas disease, researchers found.

A team of researchers from the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich finally solved the murder mystery of the unidentified Incan mummy housed in the Bavarian State Archaeological Collection, Munich. The scientists found the cause of the death to be ritual sacrifice. She also suffered from the Chagas disease.

The death of this mummy remained unknown for over a decade. The well preserved mummy was found buried in a fetal position with hair intact and one finger pointing straight up.

This Incan mummy was one of the two preserved bodies discovered in the 1890s by Princess Therese of Bavaria during a trip to South America. Though the head looked normal and well preserved, the frontal bones of skull were totally destroyed, source LiveScience.

To gain insight on the origin, life and history of the mummy, paleopathologist Andreas Nerlich of Munich University examined the skeleton, organs, and the DNA of the mummy using an array of techniques like  anthropological investigation, isotope analysis, tissue histology, molecular identification of ancient parasitic DNA, forensic injury reconstruction and complete body CT, according to the news release.

Analysis of the skull revealed that the mummy suffered trauma to the head after being struck violently with a hard object. This led to the death of the woman.  

"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.

A DNA analysis done on the body revealed that the woman was suffering from chronic Chagas disease that is still widespread in South America mainly among the families living in dearth. The disease was identified after examining symptoms of the disease like thickening of the heart, intestines and the rectum.

DNA analysis conducted on the parasites collected from the rectum tissue samples showed the presence of the chronic Chagas disease. It proved that the woman was affected by the condition during early infancy.

"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.

Radiocarbon dating suggests that the mummified woman existed between 1451 and 1642 and died when she was about 20-25 years old. She lost her life in a ritual homicide, as seen in several South American mummies.

It is not clear where the mummy exactly came from, but clues from the diet isotopes, skull structure and hairbands show that the women could have resided near the coastal Peru or Chile. On analyzing hair isotopes (mainly carbon and nitrogen) it was found that her diet mainly comprised of maize and seafood. The fiber with which the hair was tied was a material from South American Illama or alpaca.

"It is important to recognize 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."

The finding was documented in the journal PLOS One.