Horror of the 140-year-old collective sacrifice ceremony 500 years ago

According to a National Geographic report, Peruvian archaeologists discovered the bones of 140 children along with the bones of 200 young camels at a mass grave in Huanchaquito-Las Llamas area, located in the suburbs. Trujillo municipality belongs to the north coast of the country. All of the children and camels here are thought to have been killed for sacrificial rituals 500 years ago.

The area of ​​collective sacrifice took place.(Photo: National Geographic).

Although human sacrifice is a well-known ritual and is carried out in many different cultures such as Inca, Aztec and Mayan, the scale and age of the victims' sacrifices discovered recently have made the houses science must also be 'chilling'.

'I never thought it would happen,' said John Verano, a Tulane University anthropologist and member of the archaeological group at Huanchaquito-Las Llamas, told National. Geographic.

According to Vintage News, victims of different ages from 4 to 14 years of age , are given adequate and healthy nutrition care at the time of being killed. All children were buried in the sea and some young camels had ropes wrapped around their necks buried in the west.

According to National Geographic, the bones of both children and camels have signs of chest cuts and broken ribs, indicating that the chest has been removed to remove the heart. Remarkably, the red stains made from cinnabar are still present on many skulls found. Experts hypothesize that red paint is part of a sacrificial ritual.

When examining the strands wrapped around the camel neck by carbon-14 dating, scientists determined that the strings date back to about 1400-1450 - the time near the end of Chimú culture. which was later destroyed by Ican civilization.

In particular, based on a layer of dry mud unaffected by time or people at one point of the archaeological site, investigators believe that all 140 children and 200 camels were killed at the same time. . Besides, some adult and animal footprints, in which some traces show that the victim was dragged, was also found.

'This is a sacrificial ritual done systematically , ' said John Verano.

Archaeologist Gabriel Prieto (second from left) works at the site where the collective sacrifice takes place.(Photo: National Geographic).

To explain why a large number of children were killed at the same time, archaeologists are hypothesizing that the Chimú people at that time seem to have tried to beg gods to help after subject to severe droughts and floods caused by El Nino phenomenon. Initial DNA analysis results show that the number of sacrificial children including men and women comes from many different regions.

'Maybe the Chimú people donated to the gods that matter most to their society at that time,' said Gabriel Pietro, the first archaeologist who discovered and approached archaeological areas after being informed by local people. in 2011 - told the AP news agency.

'The important thing is children because they represent the future'.