The Incan Woman

 

Panzer et. al, PLOS ONE 2014

Allegedly, in the 1890s, during her trip to South America Princess Therese of Bavaria received two mummies. It's unknown what had happened to one of the mummies, but the other was that of an Incan woman. Parts of the legs of the woman were destroyed during WWII, but still remain well intact other than her missing legs.  She was donated to the Anatomical Institute of the Ludwig-Maximilian University in 1904. 

It was initially thought that she was a European bog body at first. After an Analysis of her hair though it showed that she was from South American Origins. This made sense because the braided style of her hair was not common in Europe. The bands holding her hair together were made from alpaca or llama hair and had a high diet of seafood and maize. This likely means she is from near the coastline of Peru or Chile, but there was a change in diet the 10 months before her death. She either changed her diet or moved from the area where she lived. She was likely buried in the dry sands of the Atacama Desert to preserve her body. 

It's believed that she was a pre-Columbian Incan woman.  She was between the ages of 20 to 25-years-old. 

A CT scan of the woman shows that she was murdered. It is unknown if she was a sacrifice or not, but it was likely.  She had been killed by being hit with a sharp object several times to the front of her skull. The skull bones were found in her brain cavity. However, even if she wasn't killed she was dying from Chagas disease caused from parasites. 

SOURCES:

National Library of Medicine

Archeology

Mummipedia