In November, the world media was stirred up by "another sensation" - this time from distant Peru. As it became known, two years ago, in the southeast of the country, two mummies were found covered with blankets. One of them turned out to be so unusual that it caused bewilderment among the specialists who examined it. Anthropologist Renato Davila Riquelme from the city of Cuzco even stated that the discovered remains cannot belong to any known ethnic group living on our planet. Hence the rumors that they could only belong to individuals of extraterrestrial origin
The unique find was made on Mount Wiracochan (in Inca mythology, Viracocha is the creator god), in the Andahuaylillas region of the Kispikanchi province, at an altitude of over 3250 meters above sea level. The remains were discovered quite by accident, during one of the regular visits of Rinato Riquelme, an employee of the private museum Ritos Andinos, to this hill. They did not even have to be dug, since they were in a hole dug in the ground.
A worldwide sensation, the mummy, by the way, rather poorly preserved, reached a length of about 50 cm (20 inches). Moreover, the head was half of the indicated size, looking disproportionately large relative to the frail body. Skull of strange elongated shape with large eye sockets. Of the oddities, it was also noted that with a non-accrete fontanelle on the head, which is inherent in babies, there were several molars in the jaw, which is already characteristic of an adult. In the right eye socket, traces of the soft tissues of the eyeball were preserved, which made it possible to carry out DNA analysis. The second mummified body, measuring only 30 cm (12 inches) in length, was in the embryo position. On it, in fact, the face did not survive, and the remains were wrapped in what looked like a placenta.
It is difficult to say where the hypothesis about the extraterrestrial origin of one of the mummies came from - either, indeed, from an imprudent statement by a Peruvian anthropologist, or from the filing of the media, which misinterpreted his words. Even analogies were made with an artifact from the famous film "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." However, a natural explanation was also given (for some reason, as an alternative version) of the presence of a strange shape in the described remains of the skull. A number of tribal cultures, including some peoples of the American continent, adopted the practice of artificial deformation of the skull in newborns using special devices.
According to the latest data provided by the regional directorate of the Ministry of Culture of Peru, in this case there is just a voiced prose version. Thorough studies of the remains were carried out by anthropologist Elva Torres, and her findings were supported by archaeologist Domingo Farfana. In their opinion, the hypothesis of the extraterrestrial origin of the owner of such a strange head can be ruled out unambiguously. The remains belonged to a person, or rather a three- or four-year-old child, who lived during the early class state of Tahuantinsuyu of the 11th-16th centuries, in other words, the Inca Empire. According to the chronicles, during the time of the first Inca - Manco Capaca - and his grandson Lloque Yupanqui on the territory of modern Peru, skull deformity was practiced in some children. This procedure could be associated with the social status of the parents or some religious rituals. The second mummy belonged to another younger child.
Painting by artist Paul Kane (1810-1871) showing the technique of deforming the skull of babies among the Chinook tribes of North American Indians.
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The story of the sensational mummies from Peru seems to have a continuation. According to Western media reports, the regional directorate of the Ministry of Culture in Cuzco suggested that the circumstances of the appearance of these remains may be associated with the illegal theft of archaeological sites. An investigation has been initiated in this case.
Victor Gaiduchik