Posted on 20220929 3:50 PM / updated on 20220929 3:50 PM
(Credit: HANDOUT/PROGRAM ARCHEOLOGICO HUANCHACO/AFP)
The graves of 76 children sacrificed in religious rituals around a thousand years ago have been found by archaeologists during excavations at a preHispanic sanctuary on Peru’s northern coast.
“We found 76 graves with the remains of children who were sacrificed in the last excavation we did,” archaeologist Luis Flores, one of the researchers at the Pampa La Cruz sanctuary, told AFP.
The remains of the children, who were sacrificed between the ages of 6 and 15, were discovered between July and August on two small esplanades of this sanctuary in the municipality of Huanchaco, near the city of Trujillo, 500 km north of Lima.
The same team of researchers, led by archaeologist Gabriel Prieto, had between 2016 and 2019 found the remains of another 240 children sacrificed by the Chimú people who evolved between the years AD 900 and AD 1450.
“In all the years of digging, there have been six sacrificial events that have collectively sacrificed more than 300 children in Pampa La Cruz,” Flores said.
ripped their hearts out
The 76 graves were found near a neighborhood in Huanchaco. Traces of flames were also seen at the crime scene. “We were surprised that as we excavated from 10 to 20 centimetres, more and more remains were unearthed. We realized they were kids,” Flores added.
According to him, the children’s chests were opened transversely to remove the heart in rituals for the gods of the Chimú people.
“Victims can be made for events such as lack of rain, drought, [problemas] politics or wars. There are several hypotheses that we are investigating,” the archaeologist said.
five girls
Buried under the remains are five girls with their heads together, forming a kind of circle.
“Thanks to Pampa La Cruz, we know that human sacrifice, especially children, was an integral part of the Chimú religion to celebrate and glorify their state,” Prieto told Peru’s Andina state agency.
“The sacrifice at this site was made to consecrate and open up the cultivation fields that the Chimús made possible at the time,” added the director of Huanchaco’s Archaeological Program.
In addition to Peruvian archaeologists, students and scientists from the Universities of Florida and Tulane (Louisiana) were also involved in these excavations.
Excavation work ended this month but will resume in 2023, Flores said, meaning the number of human remains could increase.
Pampa La Cruz is two kilometers from the Huanchaquito archaeological site. In April 2018, the remains of 140 children and 200 llamas offered in rituals were found at this site.