The Detmold Child

The Detmold Child is an embalmed Peruvian baby of 8-10 months, discovered at an unknown location in Peru and currently held by the Lippisches Land Museum in Detmold, Germany. It is one of the oldest mummies ever discovered, and predates King Tut by more than 3,000 years, and Ötzi the Iceman by 1,000 years.

It cane to the Lippisches Land Museum from a small ethnographic museum in Hessian Witzenhausen. Until then it hadn't been considered an important find, and arrived covered in mold, having not been stored properly. It was investigated thoroughly by a group of researchers from the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen in Mannheim, through radiocarbon dating and CT-scanning.

The child was found to have suffered from vitamin D and growth deficiencies, and had a heart defect. It appears to have contracted pneumonia, then circulation failure. After its death it was wrapped in linen and buried, with an amulet hung around its neck.

Reddish-brown in colour, the mummy survives in an incredibly intact condition, despite being almost 6,500 years old. It is currently on loan to the Mummies of the World Exhibition, which is touring the United States for a three-year period.