An Inca Ceremonial burial at 5.300 meters above sea level

The expedition that brought about the discovery of Mt. Aconcagua Inca Burial was formed by Gabriel Cabrera, the Pierobon brOther- Fernando and Juan Carlos- and the Pizzolon brOther- Franco and Alberto. This expedition was one of the four, which, early in 1985 headed for Mt. Aconcagua from it different faces commemorating the 50th. Anniversary of the Mendoza Mountaineer Club. Fifteen days after the finding, on January 23rd. 1985, off set the discoverers along with three members of the Archaeology Institute, namely: J. Ferrari, Eduardo Guercio and Víctor Durán, journalist Germán Bustos Herrera, mountain climber Ms. Silvia Centeleghe and archaeologist Juan Schobinger who was the expedition chief.

On January 28, after overcoming a thick wall, they finally reached the place of the finding. It is the above-mentioned ridge, which, according to the altimeter, is 5,300m high. Such dividing line is the beginning of the triangular shaped wing wall called the ¨Pyramid¨. Some 50 meters further there starts a high thick wall that must have posed an insurmountable obstacle for the indigenous people, should they have tried to climb on that way.

During two days they worked in the site, which was carefully surveyed and explored. They found two thick semicircular dry stoned-walls (pircas), almost demolished, and circle of stones, which was one meter in diameter. Sheltered by one of the dry stonewalls there was a funeral bundle containing the tightly folded body of an about 7 year-old child. The same was half-buried due to a rockslide. It was wrapped up by several textile pieces: the most outward piece was cloaks fully decorated with yellow feathers, very likely, guacamayo feathers.

What at first the climbers regarded as grass ¨, happened to be a bundle of yellow and black feathers that used to belong to a tuft. The skull showed an erosion-caused fracture since it had been out in the open. The brain, in turn, had gone to pieces due to dehydration.
After working for several hours, the bundle was carefully removed from the hard ¨ permafrost ¨ (frozen soil), and while J. Ferrari, the laboratory expert, dealt with its packing and further preparation intended for the descent, another team devoted their efforts to the excavation, trying to reach the stone wall sideways. Shortly after, they were fortunate enough to find in the same stuffing where the mummy had been placed- six magnificent Inca-style statues. Three of them are human male figures, in their intact clothes and plumage, whose dimensions (without the dressing) were: namely: the first one, which is gold-plated, 59mm; the second one, silver and copper-alloyed, 52mm and the third one, made of Spondylus, that is a valve which is typical of the Pacific Ocean, 47mm.

The Other were three small and slim llama figures: one of them was gold-plated while the other two were made of Spondylus - a material which was very dear to the Incas and which they called mullu - bearing a red streak on one side and a while one on the other. This ¨ dowry ¨ undoubtedly holds a token importance along with a direct connection with other high- mountain archaeological fields, which have also rendered this type of statues. Both the extraction and the preliminary analysis of such an unexpected finding account for the crowning moment in their expedition.

Upon finishing the excavation of the funeral bundle, pair of woven fiber sandals along with two small fiber bags were found. One of them held vegetable elements, which, according to a later analysis carried out by botanist Fidel Roig, happened to be an unusual type of bean, which had been cooked. (It thus became quite obvious that it was a token food intended for the Great Beyond journey).

Once the extraction of the small statues and the careful packing of the mummy were over, they had to hasten their way down due to bad weather conditions. The descent along the glacier took place in the middle of a snowstorm.
Fortunately, and thanks to the mountain climber’s expertise, they successfully reached the base camp. The rest of the return journey posed no problems, and they arrived in Mendoza City on January 31st. The funeral bundle was placed in a refrigerated chamber given by the LARLAC, run by Dr. Deis. Furthermore, one of his offices was laid at their disposal for later works.

Exert from the book “Aconcagua, an Inca burial site at 5.300 meters of altitude”
Author: Juan Schobinger