Inca child mummy returned to indigenous community in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES – The mummy of a child from the Inca period, discovered frozen in 1905 on a mountain in north-western Argentina, has been returned to an indigenous community after spending 119 years in a Buenos Aires museum.

The so-called “Child of Chani,” a reference to the mountain in the province of Jujuy where he was found accidentally by members of the military and mountaineers - almost 5,900m above sea level – was between 5 and 7 years old when he was sacrificed as part of a sacred Inca ritual known as “capacocha”.

Since the finding, the child’s remains have been stored in the Juan B. Ambrosetti Ethnographic Museum, overseen by the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). For decades, the indigenous communities of the Puna region in northern Argentina have demanded the mummy’s restitution.

The mummy was transported on May 28 from the museum in bustling downtown Buenos Aires to the town of El Moreno in Jujuy province, where the Kolla indigenous community celebrated with ceremonies and rituals.

“This little boy has much to tell us about our identity,” Kolla leader Clemente Flores told Reuters. “He is a beloved being, a grandfather of ours who fell asleep to show us the history of our culture and ways of life, some of which still endure.”

During the official restitution at the museum on May 27, university authorities apologised to the Kolla community for the delay.

“Not everything is in pursuit of science,” said dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the UBA Ricardo Manetti.

The final destination of the mummy has not yet been determined. REUTERS