The capacocha was one of the most sacred ceremonies of the Inca Empire, involving the sacrifice of children on the high-altitude volcanic peaks of the Andes. Now, new research reveals how children were drugged in preparation for their fate. Researchers analyzed hair and fingernail samples taken from eight frozen child mummies discovered on mountains across Peru and Argentina: one boy and seven girls who were between the ages of six and 14 when they died some five centuries ago.
The toxicological screenings revealed that the youths were administered intoxicating and mind-altering substances including cocaine, ceremonial corn beer and an alkaloid linked to ayahuasca brews, according to a study published in Antiquity this week. While earlier studies primarily focused on coca leaves, Dagmara Socha, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Warsaw and the study’s first author, explains in a statement, “our aim was to identify a broader range of psychoactive substances administered to the children and to determine whether patterns in their use could provide new insights into how capacocha ceremonies were conducted at different locations.” “Recent advances in toxicology now allow for the identification of low concentrations of such substances,” she adds. A post shared by Antiquity Journal (@antiquityjournal) Early Spanish chroniclers like friar Martín de Murúa noted that capacocha ceremonies were meant to ensure there would be “no famine nor lack of fruits of the earth, nor would there be drought, nor pestilence, nor rebellion.” But how priests managed the victims’ emotional and physical states remained poorly understood.
Inca rulers sacrificed healthy young boys and girls from across the vast empire during moments of profound crisis like prolonged droughts, famines or political turmoil to appease the mountain deities and restore cosmic order. Rather than viewing these victims as mere casualties, the Inca considered the children to be sacred ambassadors destined to ascend as eternal messengers between humanity and the gods. Because chemicals become locked in the keratin protein of growing hair and nails, they preserve a record of an individual’s final months alive.
Using sensitive modern forensic techniques, the team detected cocaine in all eight mummies, confirming that each child chewed coca leaves, a plant held sacred by the Inca. Figurines buried alongside the mummies also feature prominent bulges in their cheeks, representing coca quids. Besides a ceremonial importance, the coca leaves likely helped suppress hunger, relieved exhaustion and counteracted severe altitude sickness during the victims’ ascents to the mountaintop sacrificial sites.
Four of the victims also showed chemical signs of alcohol consumption. This likely came from chicha, a fermented maize beer that was given to the children to dull their senses and calm them as the sacrifice neared, per the statement. Chicha residue was also discovered in vessels interred with the mummies.
In her fingernails, researchers identified traces of harmine, an active alkaloid derived from a vine that is one of the foundational ingredients of ayahuasca. Because harmine possesses notable antidepressant properties, researchers believe it was administered specifically to elevate her spirits, ease her fear and attune her senses. Researchers identified traces of cocaine use in the brain tissue of two people buried in Italy in the 1600s.
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