“La Doncella,” or The Maiden, is a mummy who  was discovered near the 22,000-foot summit of the Llullaillaco volcano on the border of Argentina and Chile. Due to the extreme cold, dry air, and low oxygen preserved her skin, organs, hair, and clothing in life like condition.

 Found alongside her were two younger children, known as the “Lightning Girl” and the “Boy”

The  7-year-old boy buried  with miniature clothing, pottery, and llama figurines. Unlike the girls, he may have faced a more violent end, as blood and vomit were found on his clothes. A CT scan showed the boy suffered from a blow to the head.

Lightining Girl was  a 6-year-old girl. Sometime after her burial, her body and clothing were struck and scorched by lightning, giving her this nickname.

The Maiden, Lightening Girl and The Boy were sacrificed in an Incan religious  ritual around 1500, and they were entombed at different times.

Their burial site, was located at an elevation of approximately 6,700 m (22,000 ft) where winds can exceed  110 km/h (68 mph), and the temperatures can drop  as low as −40 °C (−40 °F).

The children were drugged, placed in small round tombs below the ground and left to die.

I can’t imagine the level of  control that came into play and made the option of sending your children on a walk and up a mountain to die of hypothomeria  or a blow to the head seem like perfectly acceptable thing to do.

I’m sorry that these children met their deaths far away from their homes, away from their family and their friends and to a belief that the younger ones could probably not understand.  La Doncella may have understood what was about to happen and I can’t believe that someone so young was prepared to meet their end when at her age we think and probably have always thought we will live forever.

I hope her faith told her she would live forever- and in a way I suppose she has.

RDP Prompt: POT