An Inca child mummy discovered high in the Andes more than a century ago has been returned to an indigenous community in north-western Argentina after spending 119 years in a museum collection.

Sacred child returns to ancestral lands

The mummified body of a young boy from the Inca period, known as the "Child of Chañi", has been returned to an indigenous community in Argentina after more than a century in the care of a Buenos Aires museum.

The child was discovered in 1905 near the summit of Mount Chañi in Jujuy province, north-western Argentina, at an altitude of almost 5,900 metres above sea level. He was found accidentally by military personnel and mountaineers and is believed to have been between five and seven years old when he died.

Researchers concluded that the boy was sacrificed as part of the sacred Inca ritual known as capacocha, a ceremonial offering performed in honour of important religious and political events.

Long campaign for restitution

Following the discovery, the child's remains were housed at the Juan B. Ambrosetti Ethnographic Museum, which is overseen by the University of Buenos Aires (UBA).

For decades, indigenous communities from the Puna region of northern Argentina campaigned for the return of the mummy, arguing that the remains should be reunited with their ancestral community.

The transfer took place on Thursday, when the mummy was moved from the museum in central Buenos Aires to the town of El Moreno in Jujuy province. Members of the Kolla indigenous community marked the occasion with ceremonies and traditional rituals.

Cultural significance

"This little boy has much to tell us about our identity," Kolla leader Clemente Flores told Reuters. "He is a beloved being, a grandfather of ours who fell asleep to show us the history of our culture and ways of life, some of which still endure."

During an official restitution ceremony held at the museum on Wednesday, university authorities acknowledged the lengthy delay and apologised to the Kolla community.

"Not everything is in pursuit of science," said Ricardo Manetti, dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the UBA.

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Future location undecided

The final resting place of the Child of Chañi has yet to be determined, although the return of the mummy marks the end of a decades-long effort by indigenous groups seeking the repatriation of one of the region's most significant ancestral remains.

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Inca Argentina andes Indigenous tribes