The prince of el Plomo: new studies 50 years after its discovery

Abstract

Within the past 50 years, several mummies have been found in the Andean region of South America at altitudes between 5.200 and 6.700 meters above sea level.All of these human remains belong to the Inca civilization and date from approximately 1.475 A.D. to 1.540 A.D. (Horne, 1996). In 1954 the first of these corpses, a well preserved freeze dried body of an eight-to-nine-year-old Inca prince (Fig. 1),was discovered at 5.400 meters on Cerro El Plomo, a mountain peak some 45 km. east of Santiago, and described the presence of Papilloma virus in two verrucae on one of the child’s hand (Horne & Quevedo, 1984). In this paper we present the results of recent radiological (computerized imaging), molecular and chemical investigations.

Paleodermatology: Dermatoscopic findings of “Niño del Plomo” an Incan mummy in Chile

“…We noticed at the base of the thumb and index finger of the left hand a round pale erosion with the appearance of prior manipulation that corresponded to a previous skin sample of a human papillomavirus wart evaluated through electron microscopy. 3 In the middle finger of the right hand, we observed bluish subungual blotches, consistent with subungual hematoma. These findings are presented in Supplementary Figure 1, A–F (available via Mendeley at https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/myn4bfgsdb/1 ).…”

“…Approximately 5 centuries following his death, a child was found frozen after being buried in the context of an Inca ritual human sacrifice, the Capacocha . 3 According to archeological data, the body can be attributed to the Inca culture, and its approximate date is between AD 1480 and 1500. 4 Nowadays, it is preserved at the Chilean National Museum of Natural History in controlled environmental conditions of temperature (–2 °C to –4 °C) and humidity <45%.…”

“…4 Sex determination was made by visualization of masculine genitalia, and age was estimated by analyzing the hand radiograph and according to the degree of development of the teeth. 3

Fig 1 The mummy “El Niño del Plomo.” Spontaneous natural mummification of an 8-year-old infant.

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