Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 1 hr ago
Tests find cocaine and alcohol in Inca child sacrifice mummies
Tests of hair and fingernails from eight Inca child mummies found traces of drugs taken before their deaths.
All eight showed signs of coca use, while four had traces of alcohol; the study also identified ayahuasca.
The children were killed in capacocha, an Inca ritual of child sacrifice that began in the early 15th century.
Chosen for their perceived purity and beauty, they were taken to Cuzco and then on pilgrimages to remote mountain shrines, where they were killed and buried.
Coca leaves may have served as religious offerings and helped children endure high-altitude journeys.
The findings offer new evidence about how substances were used during the ritual and how preparations varied between children.
The study provides no further steps or plans.
A study of hair and nail samples from eight Inca child mummies detected cocaine in every hair sample.
Half of the children showed signs of alcohol consumption, and one mummy’s nail contained harmine, a compound associated with ayahuasca.
The children, aged 6 to 14, were sacrificed in the capacocha ritual and found at sites in Peru, Argentina and Chile.
Researchers say the substances may have helped calm the children, supported ritual preparations or served other purposes.
- Who
- Researchers led by Dagmara Socha of the University of Warsaw studied eight Inca child mummies.
- What
- Tests detected cocaine in all eight hair samples, signs of alcohol in half the children, and harmine in one nail sample.
- When
- The study was published on November 3, 2026. The children died about 500 years ago.
- Where
- The mummies were found at sites in Peru, Argentina and Chile.
- Why
- The children were sacrificed in the capacocha ritual, which the Inca used to communicate with gods and respond to threats to cosmic order. Researchers say the substances may have helped calm or prepare them.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The capacocha child-sacrifice ritual began to emerge during the height of the Inca Empire.
The eight mummies in the study were discovered in excavations.
Juanita, a 14-year-old mummy from Ampato, was found.
The study reporting the toxicological analysis was published.
- Mummies studied
- 8
- Age at death
- 6 to 14 years
- Cocaine
- Detected in all 8 hair samples
- Alcohol
- Signs found in 4 of 8 mummies
- Harmine
- Found in the nail sample of 1 mummy
- Study journal
- Antiquity
6 sources
The drugs of death: Inca child sacrifices were given cocaine, alcohol and ayahuasca before being killed on mountaintops, gruesome study reveals
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Inca children were drugged before being sacrificed
Analysis of Inca mummies identifies the drugs used in their most important sacrificial ritual
What people are saying
What is interesting is that, although coca appears to have been a common element of the capacocha ritual, the use of other psychoactive substances varied between individuals and locations,
We cannot reconstruct the children’s emotions or determine precisely how they experienced these events,
We are beginning to understand capacocha not simply as a single sacrificial event, but as a complex process involving extensive preparations, long journeys and different ritual practices,
Conducting this kind of research has always been my dream, and I feel very fortunate to be able to do it.