[imagesource: Archeology Adventures / Facebook]

A 700-year-old burial mound in Peru was discovered, including the remains of 76 sacrificed infants and two adults, all with their chests slashed open.

The burial mound is the most recent of many sacrifice sites discovered in Pampa La Cruz, near the coastal city of Trujillo in northwest Peru. The ruins are associated with the Chimú civilisation, which thrived in the region from the 12th to 15th century.

The children were buried naked, their chests had been cut open from the collarbone down to the sternum, and their ribs had been forced open, potentially to gain access to their hearts, as previous research on other burial mounds at Pampa la Cruz suggested.

Researchers also found silver and copper squares that may have been sewn to the children’s clothing, as well as ear ornaments. An analysis of previous sacrifices at the same site suggests the victims were conquered people brought to work on the land.

Based on further examination of the other 76 people discovered at the same site in 2022, the researchers established that all of the victims had cranial alterations, which involved elongating an infant’s pliable skull with boards or head wraps. According to Prieto, the Chimú also engaged in this procedure, but with less drastic modifications. The severity of the cranial alterations implies that the children were of Lambayeque descent.

The Chimú may have conquered the children and their families and relocated them to Pampa la Cruz to create irrigation systems. Here, the Chimú expanded their agriculture into areas with poor crop growth, necessitating elaborate irrigation systems in the Pampa la Cruz area.

Once the irrigation ditches were built, the children were most likely slaughtered to strengthen the soil.

“The children’s burial in this mound was possibly an offering to energize the fields.”

“In Andean cosmology, the dead people become ancestors, and the ancestors legitimize the land rights, and justify and support the systems that keep the land producing,” Prieto said.

The researchers will investigate this theory by expanding their excavations into Chan Chan, the capital of the Chimú civilization.

We might be complaining that 2024 is a tumultuous year, but let’s all agree that the 1000s was a slightly worse time to be alive.

[source:livescience]