[1] She was discovered on the dormant stratovolcano Mount Ampato (part of the Andes cordillera in southern Peru) in 1995 by anthropologist Johan Reinhard and his Peruvian climbing partner, Miguel Zárate.

Another of her nicknames, Ice Maiden, derives from the cold conditions and freezing temperatures that preserved her body on Mount Ampato.

[2] Between May and June 1996, she was exhibited in the headquarters of the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C., in a specially acclimatized conservation display unit.

Ampato (20,700 ft; 6,300 m), Johan Reinhard and Miguel Zárate found a bundle in the crater that had fallen from an Inca site on the summit due to recent ice melt and erosion from a volcano eruption.

[4] They also found many items that had been left as offerings to the Inca gods including llama bones, small figurines and pottery pieces.

Volcanic ash from the nearby erupting volcano of Sabancaya induced ice melt in the area, which caused the Incan burial sites to collapse down into a gully or crater where they were soon discovered by Reinhard and his team.

Reinhard published a detailed account of the discovery in his 2006 book entitled, The Ice Maiden: Inca Mummies, Mountain Gods, and Sacred Sites in the Andes.

Stable isotopic analysis of other child sacrifices in the area has found changes in diet within the last year of life to indicate whether they originated from common families.

Her head was adorned with a cap made from the feathers of a red macaw, and she wore a lively woollen alpaca shawl fastened with a silver clasp.

Found with her in the burial tapestry was a collection of grave goods: bowls, pins, and figurines made of gold, silver, and shell.

Using digital images and scans of her skull and analysis of her DNA to determine her age, facial characteristics and complexion it was created by Swedish archaeologist and sculptor Oscar Nilsson, first in clay before being cast in silicone.

He observed that her cracked right eye socket and the two-inch (5 cm) fracture in her skull are injuries "typical of someone who has been hit by a baseball bat."

Evidence of strontium analysis suggests that children were taken from several different geographical areas, brought to the Inca capital, and then potentially underwent months of travel to the sacred location at which they would be sacrificed.

[14] Archaeologists have discovered through biochemical analysis that coca (the primary source of cocaine) and alcohol were commonly found in the children's systems.

[citation needed] Juanita was killed as a practice of capacocha, or child sacrifice, to appease Inca gods, or Apus.

[17] This is endorsed by Reinhard's observations and understandings from the field site: "the sacrifices were made either during a lengthy period of extreme drought, during (or just after) volcanic eruptions or both.

[18] In Southern Peru, it was believed that sacrificing a young female would appease the mountain deity who would in turn provide a consistent water supply to the region.

[19] Others have suggested that child sacrifice could in part be used as a political strategy by Incan leaders to ensure control over the empire.