First Contact (by CMGW Photography)
“There’s nothing like the awe of a child encountering a new life form, but in this fantastic shot by Christopher of CMGW Photography it looks like the feeling radiating from this enormous old manatee might be mutual. (via stellar)”
Welcome to Alaska! $27.00 for a pound of ground beef
Ok, maybe it’s 2 lbs. Pic lifted from my friend in Nome, Ak
npr:
The most graceful falling bear we’ve ever seen.
The bear landed safely on the padded mat.
“If a bear fell in the forest would anybody hear it?”
Photo of the “Llullaillaco Maiden”, a 15 year old girl sacrificed during the Inca Empire for both purposes of religious rite and social control. She was chosen a year prior to her death, fed a ritualistic diet for an approximate twelve months to make her gain weight, then was drugged and left on the shrine at Volcano Llullaillaco, where she was left to die of exposure. For five hundred years, her body had been preserved at 82 ft. She is considered to be the best preserved Andean mummy ever uncovered.
This post has travelled so far as to reach over 31,000 notes, so I thought I would make an amendment to the initial description. The recovery of this individual, who has been given many names, including La Doncella (The Maiden), included two other well preserved human remains, one female child and one male child, of whom were sacrificed in a similar fashion. However, there is more to the archaeology than meets the eye.
These human remains were recovered by Dr. Johan Reinhard, who works for the National Geographic Society, West Virginia’ Mountain Institute, and I believe also a Christian university. He has brought fourteen mummified human remains from the Andes to the US, and some of his work as been described as the most important archaeological work of the modern day. But there is an issue. The mummified human remains he has recovered and brought to the US range from various dates of the Inca Empire, which means that, these three individuals specifically, should be kept in Chile. It is only recently in 2007, since their recovery in 1999, that these human remains have been on display in Argentina, which Llullaillaco Mountain also borders.
This story would be different if the new home of these human remains where in the country they were discovered, and Dr. Reinhard was loaned the remains for research. Instead, each mummified individual is kept in a glass box in Washington, DC. I have seen comments in some notes about how invasive the above photo looks, especially in terms of the white researchers treating the remains as a specimen (and I would agree, though an element of detachment from human remains in scientific research is sometimes necessary. It is the context of the photo that becomes problematic). The can of worms on physical anthropology and the handling of human remains is touchy, and often remains are displayed in glass boxes (though many museums have taken remains off of display or have attempted to create better environments in which to understand the gravity of a deceased human being), so I will not open it all the way.
After having researched his opinions on the controversy surrounding his work, I propose that there is very little difference between the actions of Dr. Johan Reinhard and looting, save for Dr. Reinhard taking the human remains away for study rather than sale. I do not propose that the recovery of these individuals is ‘bad archaeology’, but only that the ethics of Dr. Reinhard are shockingly absent. Some of the backlash the display of these remains has received was the grief of local indigenous groups in Argentina, descendants of Inca peoples, who wanted the remains taken off display and returned to either the country or to them. The scientific community, as well, was worried about gradual decomposition from display lights in several exhibitions.
In the case of human remains in archaeology, a little background on the archaeological work itself is necessary in understanding how anthropological ethics have changed in the last 30 years, how the agency and identities of the three Andean children were changed once they were recovered (their purpose to the Inca as sacrifices, versus the assignment of names like The Maiden, Lightning Girl, et cetera), and the issues of recovering human remains of a peoples whose descendants are wary of grave disruption and use for research. If anyone is interested in more background, I would recommend starting here.
The same mummified human remains of the “Llullaillaco Maiden” on display:
“Ophelia” a giant Octopus created entirely of marine debris! This is part of an outreach effort by Island Trails Network and Kodiak High School art program to teach more people about the marine debris phenomenon and the impacts of the plastic and derelict fishing gear washing up on our shores.
Racism! Racism! Racism!!! These men are serving their 15th yr for a murder they did not commit!
