In Argentina, a Museum Unveils a Long-Frozen Maiden

Source: New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/11/science/11mummu.html
Author: DENISE GRADY
Date of Publication: September 11, 2007

Summary:
Three frozen mummies have been found in 1999 in Salta, Argentina, they have been kept in the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology for all these years, and now are been prepared for exhibition. The display includes the three children who were found frozen at the summit of Mount Llullaillaco, together with pottery and figurines unscathed. The children- belonging to the Inca Empire- were sacrificed 500 years ago, according to the traditions it was an honor to be chosen to sacrifice. The images of the Children of The Cold are striking due to the fact they look more like sleeping children than real mummies, all this thanks to the excellent conditions in which they were found.

Personal Reaction:

The images of these children are quite disturbing because they do look like sleeping children, it is incredible the fact that they are the best-conserved mummies in the entire world, and I feel quite proud to say they are here in Argentina. We may not have the resources others countries have, but yet, people in Salta are doing every kind of resource they have in order to preserve them.
Vocabulary:

Bleak
adjective
1 If weather or a place is bleak, it is cold, empty and not welcoming or attractive:
The house stands on a bleak, windswept moor.

2 If a situation is bleak, there is little or no hope for the future:
The economic outlook is bleak.
Unscathed
adjective [after verb]
without injuries or damage being caused:
Her husband died in the accident but she, amazingly, escaped unscathed.

Pottery
noun [U]
1 the activity or skill of making clay objects by hand

2 objects that are made out of clay by hand:
They sell pottery and other handmade goods.
Thaw (BECOME NOT FROZEN)
verb [I or T]
to (cause to) change from a solid, frozen state to a liquid or soft one, because of an increase in temperature:
Allow the meat to thaw properly before cooking it.
The sun came out and thawed the ice.
It’s beginning to thaw (= The weather is warm enough for snow and ice to melt).
Compare freeze.

The thaw noun [S]
a period of warmer weather when snow and ice begin to melt:
The thaw has set in early this year.

Fanfare
noun [C]
a loud short piece of music played, usually on a trumpet and to introduce the arrival of someone important
Dim
adjective dimmer, dimmest
1 not giving or having much light:
The lamp gave out a dim light.
He sat in a dim corner of the waiting-room.
We could see a dim (= not easily seen) shape in the fog.

2 LITERARY If your eyes are dim, you cannot see very well.

3 a dim memory/recollection, etc. something that you remember slightly, but not very well:
I had a dim recollection of having met her before.

4 INFORMAL not very clever:
He’s a nice chap, but a little dim.
Don’t be dim.

5 not likely to succeed:
The company’s prospects for the future are rather dim.

Dim
verb [I or T] -mm-
1 to (make something) become less bright:
Someone dimmed the lights.
The lights dimmed and the curtains opened.

2 LITERARY to (make a positive feeling or quality) less strong:
Our hopes/expectations dimmed as the hours passed.

Dimly
adverb
The room was dimly lit.
I dimly remembered seeing the film before.

dimness
noun [U]

shrine
noun [C]
1 a place for worship which is holy because of a connection with a holy person or object:
Islam’s most sacred shrine is at Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

2 a special place in which you remember and praise someone who has died, especially someone famous:
She’s turned her bedroom into a shrine to the dead pop star and covered the walls with pictures of him.

Weave (TWIST)
verb [T] wove or US ALSO weaved, woven or US ALSO weaved
1 to twist long objects together, or to make something by doing this:
We were shown how to roughly weave ferns and grass together to make a temporary shelter.
It takes great skill to weave a basket from/out of rushes.

2 LITERARY to form something from several different things or to combine several different things, in a complicated or skilled way:
The biography is woven from the many accounts which exist of things she did.

Weaver
noun [C]
basket weavers

Crease (FOLD)
noun [C]
a line on cloth or paper where it has been folded or crushed:
He ironed a crease down the front of each trouser leg.

Crease
verb [I or T]
If cloth, paper, etc. creases, or if you crease it, it gets a line in it where it has been folded or crushed:
The seatbelt has creased my blouse.
It’s a nice dress, but it creases very easily.

Creased
adjective
with a crease:
creased trousers.