History from time to time gives us surprises, allowing us to glance through the window of time back and reveal some of its hidden secrets!
And here is one of its broad gestures - on the slope of the volcano Ljullyaylako (the border of Argentina and Chile) at an altitude of 6,739 above sea level, archaeologists have discovered a unique mummy of a 15-year-old girl from the Inca tribe that has lain in the ice for more than 500 years!
But that's not all - next to the teenage girl were two more frozen bodies of a boy of seven and a six-year-old girl.
The uniqueness of such a finding is that until this moment scientists have studied only well-preserved embalmed mummies.
For a large-scale study of an incredible find, a group of researchers from the University of New York, headed by Angelica Kortels, despite the already familiar DNA expertise, decided to use a new technique - a proteomics that analyzes protein in tissues.
Taking the necessary material from the lip of the mummy "Maiden" or "Maiden" (the name of the 15-year-old mummy girl) and comparing its results with the database of the human genome, scientists found that its protein profile was similar to the protein profile of patients suffering from chronic respiratory infection .
DNA analysis and X-ray images of the mummy also confirmed this assumption - Maiden had upper respiratory tracts and for the first time in the mummy, tuberculosis was detected.
It's hard to believe, but the death of a teenage girl from the Inca tribe did not come at all as a consequence of bacterial pulmonary infection. Judging by artifacts in the form of gold, silver, bowls with food, clothes and an unusual headdress of white feathers found next to a unique find, a girl and two other children were simply sacrificed!
It is known that the Incas used children not so often in sacrificial rituals, but, according to historians, these were chosen because of beauty and "purity".
And even more - further study of the mummies confirmed that before the ceremony of sacrifice of all three children found for more than a year they were fed exclusively elite "products", like maize and dried lamb meat.
To date, scientists have studied the mummy "Maiden" and took tests from the bloodied clothing of the mummy of a seven-year-old boy.
But to investigate the smallest finding, most likely, will not. It turns out that the mummy of a six-year-old girl was struck by lightning, and this will affect the reliability of the results.
Well, it's time to see once, than reread ten times ...