Check Out This Incan Girl Who Was Perfectly Preserved For 500 Years (Photos)

An Incan girl who was sacrificed some 500 years ago has been uncovered perfectly intact, as the freezing temperatures atop a volcano preserved her to the point where it looks as if she could wake up at any moment.

With temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius below zero, the 15-year-old girl, along with a 6-year-old and a 7-year-old, were discovered to be perfectly maintained.

Check out this account of it by anthropologist Marta Flores:

“Three children, ages 6, 7 and 15, left their towns one day and set off toward the peak of a volcano. Accompanied by Inca priests, they walked for months or even years until they at last reached the Llullaillaco Volcano in northwestern Argentina. There, the priests got them drunk and buried them alive as an offering to the gods. “The Incas selected the two girls and one boy for their beauty and perfection. The girls wore tunics, fitted at the waist, and long braids in their hair. The boy donned a large headdress made of white feathers. The priests buried them with various objects that symbolized life in the communities: miniature gold statues, vessels, sandals and small bags of dried food.”

The bodies of the children were initially uncovered in 1999 by a troop of 14 men and women led by Johan Reinhard, a U.S. explorer for the National Geographic Society, climbed 6,700 meters above sea level.

“When we established the final camp, at a height of 6,600 meters, a storm broke,” recalled Christian Vitry, who was on the expedition. “It lasted four days, and the tents were covered in snow.”

With her clothes, skin and hair still in tact, this Incan teenagers is one of the most remarkable feats of human preservation we’ve ever seen. Check out the images below!