Popular belief suggested that the boy from El Plomo hill —mountain located in the Metropolitan Region that dominates the entire central Mapocho valley—had had a peaceful death after being offered in the mountain range, within the framework of the Inca ceremony called Capacocha.
However, recent research results would reveal the opposite. With the advancement of technology, scientific studies indicate that the little boy who was only eight years old would have had a traumatic deathpointing out his possible cause of death.
THE LAST
The good state of conservation of his body—after being found in 1954, since that year it has been kept in the National Museum of Natural History of Chile (MNHN)— made it possible to carry out a DNA test and other analyzes on his skin, obtaining information that until today was incomplete.
For example, it was discovered that the minor had been fed before being offered and that did not die from frostbite (hypothermia)but his body froze after he died.
What would be the true cause of death of the child from Cerro El Plomo?
In 2021, the boy’s body was taken to the German Clinic to be subjected to a computed tomography. Thus it was learned that he had a traumatic death, specifically, a head trauma that would have caused his death.
Go to the next note
“Our neuroradiologist identified an area in the skull where the bone is sunken with a fracture in the front area of the skull. There was also a traumatic separation of the skull sutures: at the child’s age (8 years), those sutures were already closed,” he commented. Claudio Silvahead of the Research and Teaching Unit of the Imaging Department of the clinic.
The evidence discovered suggests that the child’s injuries were caused by a third party using an object without a point or edge. El Mercurio states that the blow involved a movement from the right to the left over the deceased’s head.
“In people’s imagination there is the belief of a peaceful death that occurred during sleep after having ingested a concoction. This turn in history is somewhat complexsince we move on to a trauma from a third party,” he stated. Mario Castrodirector of the MNHN.
Where did the boy from El Plomo hill come from?
Scientists from the University of Chile obtained the complete genome of the child. According to the results, He was related to inhabitants of the south-central area of Peru: “These children were selected from noble families and sent to colonizing and founding rituals,” Castro explained to the aforementioned media.
The selection of the protagonist child occurred nine months before the Capacocha ceremony. She lived three months in his town and then traveled to Cuzco; After that, he toured the Inca Trail (about 2,000 kilometers) until reaching El Plomo hill, where he finally died.
How was the child from Cerro El Plomo found?
The discovery of the child in 1954 was carried out by Guillermo Chaconhis friend Luis Gerardo Ríos and his nephew, Jaime Rios. From Puente Alto they headed towards El Plomo hill to explore three stone structures and find figures made by indigenous people.
Guillermo did not reach the aforementioned structures, but Luis and Jaime did. Both first found gold and silver relics that were used in the offering ceremony; and later they found the child’s remains, contained in a package whose extraction was not easy. They met again with Chacón and They buried the body in a cave before going down the hill.
With the intention of selling the found items, Guillermo and Luis ended up arriving at the National Museum of Natural History, but the parties did not reach any agreement for the sale.
Days later, as the discoverers had mentioned the existence of the child’s corpse, the then head of the Anthropology section of the MNHN, Grete Mostny, went to Puente Alto to buy the body. Chacón and Ríos unearthed it and They sold it for $45,000 at the time.. Check out more details of the story at this link (click here).
All about Scientific Studies
