140 skeletons found in northern Peru

In northern Peru, multiple archaeologists have discovered some evidence from one of the world’s largest cases of child sacrifice. It has been said that they had found just about 140 skeletons in Trujillo, Peru. A report by the New York Times presented most of the information used in this article.

Archaeologists went to a Burial Site, known as Las Llamas, which was where they discovered the skeletons. They were able to determine that the skeletons that were found were children between the ages of five and 14. The skeletons were from a ceremony in which those children were sacrificed 550 years ago.

Throughout the investigation

In addition to there being skeletons of children, archaeologists also found some remains of about 200 llamas that may have been sacrificed on the same day at the site.

The burial site that had the remains may have been built by the ancient Chimu empire. People think that those children may have been sacrificed because of the floods that had occurred when the El Niño weather pattern came into place and destroyed the Peruvian coastline.

Archaeology professor Gabriel Prieto states that the children may have been sacrificed because they may have been offering the gods one of the most sacred things, which was children. The children were representing what the future could look like.

In addition to children, professor Prieto states that llamas were also an important part of the country because they had a significance to their economy. The children that were sacrificed were buried with them facing the sea and the llamas were buried facing the Andes Mountains.

The work at the burial site that started in 2011 is what brought those findings to light on Thursday (April 26).

With evidence that there were findings, National Geographic was able to move forward with their investigation.

Throughout their findings, it was found that the children had lesions on their breastbones which means that it was done by a knife during the ceremony. They also found dislocated rib cages that indicate that during the sacrificing, they may have tried to take out their hearts.

What's next?

Director Jeffrey Quilter called these findings a phenomenal discovery. He states that the burial site brings enough evidence that a sacrifice of the children occurred in the ancient times.

Quilter is going to be one of the scientists who will analyze the children’s remains. When they analyze the remains, they are going to find DNA samples of the children sacrificed and further the investigation by finding out if the remains are related and see which areas of the Chimu empire they came from.

In ancient times, certain cultures in the Americas had human sacrifices which included the Mayans, the Aztecs, and the Incas. These particular groups had controlled the Chimu empire back in the 15th century. Even though there were children sacrifices, it was very rare that they were documented.