Shocking picture of incredibly well-preserved 15-year-old girl from the Inca Empire

Facebook X LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp Flipboard Bluesky Email Copy Link Home → Science → Biology

It's shocking what people did in the name of kingdom and religion.

More than 500 years ago, a teenage girl climbed (or was brought) nearly to the summit of one of the highest volcanoes on Earth. She would never come back down.

The girl, now known as the Llullaillaco Maiden or La Doncella, was about 15 years old when the Inca sacrificed her on the 6,739-meter-high Llullaillaco volcano, on what is now the border between Argentina and Chile. The freezing, dry conditions preserved her so extraordinarily well that when archaeologists uncovered her in 1999, she appeared almost asleep.

Scientists have recently narrowed down when that sacrifice probably happened. A 2026 study of plants buried beside the Maiden dates the ceremony to between 1462 and 1507. But the most stunning part of her story is the sacrifice itself.

The Maiden wasn’t alone on the mountain. Archaeologists found two younger children nearby: a boy about seven years old and a girl about six, now known as the Lightning Girl. Each had been placed in a separate burial chamber with elaborate clothing and offerings as part of the Inca ritual known as capacocha.

Capacocha was a state-sponsored ceremony in which children and young people were selected from communities across the Inca Empire. Colonial accounts describe sacrifices associated with rulers, political events, natural disasters and efforts to maintain relationships between communities, sacred places and the gods.

It was a ruthless practice, and an elaborate one.

Scientists examining the Maiden’s hair discovered a dramatic dietary change beginning about a year before she died. She began eating substantially more animal protein and maize, foods associated with elite status.

Later research revealed another grim part of her final months. Coca use increased, and in the final weeks of her life the Maiden consumed unusually large quantities of both coca and alcohol. Researchers suggested that the substances may have made her increasingly sedated as the ceremony approached. When archaeologists found her, fragments of coca leaves remained in her mouth.

Please check your inbox and confirm your subscription.

Exactly how she was sacrificed is unclear. Unlike some other Inca sacrificial victims, researchers found no obvious lethal trauma on the Maiden. The evidence is consistent with her becoming unconscious and dying in the extreme cold after being placed in the burial chamber.

The newest clues did not come from the Maiden herself. Researchers instead dated coca leaves, maize and manioc buried with her — short-lived plants that were likely harvested not long before the ceremony.

Their analysis places the Llullaillaco sacrifice between 1462 and 1507 CE. The most likely period falls between 1479 and 1502.

The timing is significant because the Inca appear to have controlled this part of the southern Andes for decades by then. So the sacrifice wasn’t simply a ritual marking the region’s conquest. The researchers suggest it may instead have reinforced imperial authority, commemorated an important event, or responded to religious and environmental concerns. However, researchers don’t have a specific ruler or motive.

But Llullaillaco was not an isolated case.

Across the Inca Empire, archaeologists have found children and teenagers sacrificed on high mountain summits as part of capacocha ceremonies. Some were buried with finely made textiles, figurines, food and other offerings. The locations were often extraordinarily remote, requiring long journeys to altitudes where cold, thin air and exhaustion alone posed serious dangers.

To the Inca, these sacrifices were deeply religious and political acts. To modern eyes, they are also stark reminders of how much suffering could be demanded in the name of empire and belief. The Maiden’s remarkable preservation makes that violence unusually difficult to look away from.

Updated October 1, 2026: This article was originally published on April 9, 2012. It has been revised with newer research on the Llullaillaco Maiden, including updated dating of the sacrifice, evidence about her final months, and broader context on Inca child sacrifice. Some outdated or unsupported claims were also corrected or removed. This update is part of our ongoing effort to revisit older stories and bring them in line with the best available evidence.

Tags: incallullaillaco girlllullaillaco volcano

Dr. Andrei Mihai is a geophysicist and founder of ZME Science. He has a Ph.D. in geophysics and archaeology and has completed courses from prestigious universities (with programs ranging from climate and astronomy to chemistry and geology). He is passionate about making research more accessible to everyone and communicating news and features to a broad audience.