Mummy of an Inca girl wearing poisoned clothes in Chile

Red robes on the clothes of two sacrificed Inca young women hundreds of years ago could be used to stop grave thieves.

Two young women aged 9-18 were buried in the most honorable rite of the Incas in northern Chile about 500-600 years ago, according to Science Alert. Their grave is full of wealth but the clothes they wear are dyed in dark red and covered with poisonous powder . This is the first time this bright red compound made from mercury sulfite appears in a grave in the region.

The mummy for more than 500 years of the Inca maiden was sacrificed in Cerro Esmeralda.(Photo: Science Alert).

First discovered in 1976 in Cerro Esmeralda, two female mummies and unusual burials in their graves have become the subject of many studies over the years. Previous research identified two young women who lived around 1399 - 1475 as victims of capacocha or Qhapaq Hucha , a sacrificial rite. This practice arose in Cusco, the capital of the Inca empire, about 1,200 km from a mummy of two young women, often conducted with children, to celebrate the important events of the Inca king's life, to prevent Block natural disasters or religious rituals.

Based on the abundance and quality of burial buried with two young women, the researchers think the sacrifice has important significance. According to Jorge Checura, the first researcher to describe the tomb, two young women were brought here from Cusco and the trip took several months.

The presence of cinnabar is another strange thing. Checura also noted that there was a bright red powder on the girl's clothes and said it was a cork. However, in northern Chile, people prefer to use iron ore redder because of its color and turbidity.

New research conducted by Tarapacá University in Chile is the first chemical and microscopic analysis of graves in graves."The results of our chemical analysis show that there is a mummy's clothes in Cerro Esmeralda. This poison is a special burial and is quite strange in northern Chile," the authors wrote in the newspaper. Published in the Archaeometry issue in May issue.

The researchers are not sure why the Incas applied the clothes of the two girls. In other societies like ancient Rome and Ethiopia, this substance is used to apply to the face and body. However, the skin of the two girls is not colored. According to the group's hypothesis, if the Incas know the toxicity of the compound, it can be irrigated on clothing to stop grave thieves, because inhaling dust also causes mercury poisoning.