Inca mummy research. Researcher cleaning an Inca mummy. Mummification is a process where tissues are preserved after death by extreme dessication in a dry climate. Parchment-like skin is seen covering the bones. Here,the hair is particularly well preserved. This female Inca mummy,nicknamed "La Senorita",who was buried with her child (lower left),was excavated from a large Inca cemetery called Puruchuco-Huaquerones,on the outskirts of Lima,Peru. The site has been excavated several times since 1999,with many well-preserved mummies being found. The Inca,a pre-Hispanic people from Peru,ruled an extensive empire in the Andean regions of northern South America in the 15th and 16th centuries |