Mummy Found With Strange Artifacts Tattoo

July 17, 2008—Seen with metal plates on his eyes—signs of status—this male mummy found in the ancient Peruvian town of Rontoy was unwrapped in June 2008. He had been disemboweled and placed in layers of cotton and woven textiles to aid his preservation.

The metal and red paint on the thirtysomething's face indicate elite status, and the presence of elites in Rontoy suggests the mysterious Chancay held a tighter grip over the Huaura River valley region than previously believed, experts said. The Chancay rose to power around A.D. 1000 and were conquered by the Inca in 1476, though the Chancay elites likely continued to rule as Inca deputies.

A long, thin black tattoo follows the angle of the mummy's knee joint. Tattoos are generally found on elite people, according to Kit Nelson, an anthropologist at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, who discovered and unbundled the mummy.

X-rays of the mummy reveal no broken bones, and a visual inspection found no lethal lacerations. He may have died from an infection, though official confirmation is pending.

The mummy was wrapped in layers of finely-woven textiles and a gauzy material. Offerings were embedded throughout the layers. In this layer close to the body, for example, lone balls of cotton were on either side—one white, the other brown. Nelson called them "strange things we never expected."

Other offerings such as abundant corn, a necklace of silver metal beads, and a wooden figurine are thought to be more signs of the individual's high rank.

The mummy, nicknamed "Kiko Rontoy," was buried with metal plates over his eyes and one in his mouth, shown here. The plates are hand-pounded pieces of copper and silver.

His face was covered in red paint made of mercury sulfide that is commonly associated with the burials of high-ranking individuals. Peruvian archaeologist Guillermo Cock said the paint and metal are indications of the mummy's status. "That individual is somebody from the upper class," he said.

When the researchers exposed the mummy's right arm and hand—note the fingernails—they found he clutched an empty woolen bag, which is partially visible here. The mummy also held two loops of yarn.

The dirty-looking flecks around the mummy are offerings of corn kernels. Corn, Cock noted, was a key food and ingredient in alcohol. "Chicha was really the only alcoholic beverage that they had—[corn] is a very valuable resource," he said.

Nelson, seen here in blue, discovered the mummy in a specially built, brick-lined tomb dug into the floor of a room within an adobe compound. A pottery specialist, Nelson was looking for ceramic remains. "We landed right on top of the mummy bundle," she said.

He lay on a bed of corn and was positioned below three empty niches (not visible) that are commonly associated with sacred offerings. No other prehistoric mummies were found here.

The mummy was found in the in Peru's ancient city of Rontoy, which sits where the Huaura River valley begins to fan out towards the ocean. When occupied by the Chancay, Rontoy was the hub of a thriving agricultural community.

Cotton fields likely surrounded the town, Nelson said. The size of Rontoy during its heyday, however, is unknown, as the researchers are uncertain how many structures have since been destroyed by today's fast-expanding sugarcane industry.

Frozen Inca Mummy Goes On Display

The mummy of an ancient Inca girl sits literally frozen in sleep at a museum in Argentina. The mummy, called La Doncella or The Maiden, is that of a teenage girl who died more than 500 years ago in a ritual sacrifice in the Andes Mountains. The girl and two other children were left on a mountaintop to succumb to the cold as offerings to the gods, according to the archaeologists who found the mummified remains in Argentina in 1999. National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Johan Reinhard, who co-led the expedition, described the discovery at the time as "the best preserved of any mummy I've seen."

The High Country Archaeological Museum in Salta, Argentina, unveiled La Doncella, the oldest of the three victims, for its first public viewing on September 6, 2008. The museum is displaying the mummy in a refrigerated, low-oxygen environment to reproduce the high-altitude conditions that allowed for its remarkable, natural preservation. The mummies of the other two children remain in storage for further study, museum officials said.

A close look reveals the stunning preservation of La Doncella, the naturally mummified body of a teenage Inca girl on display in an Argentine museum.

The discovery of La Doncella and two other mummified children on a mountaintop in Argentina in 1999 revealed rich details of ancient Inca life, such as the girl's finely braided hair, said anthropologist Johan Reinhard, who co-led the expedition that made the find. In this regard, La Doncella even rivals Reinhard's previous discovery: a frozen mummy dubbed the Ice Maiden that he and a colleague found on a Peruvian peak in 1995.

"The discovery of the three mummies [in 1999] … was the highlight of my life, or certainly [of] my work in the Andes," Reinhard told National Geographic News in 2005. "These mummies were far better preserved … than the Ice Maiden."

Argentina's Llullaillaco volcano, where the frozen bodies of three mummified Inca children were found in 1999, towers to some 22,100 feet (6,700 meters).

The excavation of the mummies at the mountain's peak was the world's highest archaeological dig, according to anthropologist Johan Reinhard.

An archaeologist unwraps the frozen mummy of La Doncella on a mountain in Argentina in 1999.

La Doncella was found dressed in a ceremonial tunic and adorned with a headpiece, tokens of her new status as a messenger to the heavens. The girl had also drunk corn liquor, likely to put her to sleep, scientists say, and her mouth still held fragments of coca leaves, which the Inca chewed to lessen the effects of altitude sickness.


Archaeologists carry the 500-year-old mummies of three Inca children down Argentina's Llullaillaco volcano in 1999.

The researchers wrapped the frozen bodies in layers of plastic, snow, and foam insulation to keep them cold and maintain their exquisite preservation. The mummies were taken to the city of Salta for study, where one of them is now on display for the first time at a local museum.

Three figurines festooned with colorful feathers and woven garments were found alongside the bodies of La Doncella and two fellow victims at the top of an Andean volcano. The three Inca children were left to freeze to death as a sacrifice to the gods, anthropologist Johan Reinhard said. "[They] weren't being sacrificed to feed the gods,"

Reinhard told National Geographic News in 2005. "They were being sacrificed to enter into the realm of the gods. It was considered a great honor. "These children didn't die in the sense that we think: They went to live in a paradise with the gods. … It was a transition into a better life, one that these children were greatly honored [to have]."

After Ice Rain In South China

I can't imagine the real situation... ~ Maalao

Ice Hotel Glace Quebec in Canada

STRIPED ICEBERGS - Fascinating

Icebergs in the Antarctic area sometimes have stripes, formed by layers of snow that react to different conditions.

Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet fills up with meltwater and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form.

When an iceberg falls into the sea, a layer of salty seawater can freeze to the underside. If this is rich in algae, it can form a green stripe.

Brown, black and yellow lines are caused by sediment, picked up when the ice sheet grinds downhill towards the sea.

... Is this amazing??

Antarctica Frozen Wave Pixs - Nature is amazing!

The water froze the instant the wave broke through the ice.

That's what it is like in Antarctica where it is the coldest weather in decades.

Water freezes the instant it comes in contact with the air.

The temperature of the water is already some degrees below freezing.

Just look at how the wave froze in mid-air!!!