Ampato was the site of human sacrifice during Inca times, when about 1466 the Mummy Juanita was offered for sacrifice on the mountain, along with two other girls and a boy. The sacrifice took place on a platform on the summit of the volcano and was presumably intended to calm the mountain spirits during an eruption of the neighbouring volcano Sabancaya. The mummies were discovered in 1995 by Johan Reinhard and colleagues on the summit of the mountain.