The Prince of El Plomo: a frozen treasure

Abstract

Until the discovery of the “Iceman” in 1991, the only region where ancient human remains were preserved by high altitude cold was the Andes between Argentina and Chile. The first such frozen individual was discovered in 1905. In 1954 the Prince of El Plomo, the topic of this paper, was discovered (Mostny 1957, Home & Quevedo K. 1984). In 1964 the mummy of Cerro El Toro was discovered and well documented (Schobinger 1966). In recent years more than 115 high altitude sanctuaries and several other mummies have been found and documented. All of these human remains and sanctuaries lie between 5,200 and 6,700 meters above sea level. All are the remains of the short-lived, yet very powerful Inca civilization and date from approximately 1,475 A.D. to 1,536 A.D. — the latter date coinciding with the arrival of the Spanish.