Practice of human sacrifice by American Indian civilizations

The Olmecs flourished during Mesoamerica's formative period, dating roughly from as early as 1500 BCE to about 400 BCE. Pre-Olmec cultures had flourished since about 2500 BCE, but by 1600–1500 BCE, early Olmec culture had emerged, centered on the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán site near the coast in southeast Veracruz. They were the first Mesoamerican civilization, and laid many of the foundations for the civilizations that followed. Among other "firsts", the Olmec appeared to practice ritual bloodletting and played the Mesoamerican ballgame, hallmarks of nearly all subsequent Mesoamerican societies. The aspect of the Olmecs most familiar now is their artwork, particularly the aptly named "colossal heads". The Olmec civilization was first defined through artifacts which collectors purchased on the pre-Columbian art market in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries. Olmec artworks are considered among ancient America's most striking. Wikipedia Encyclopedia

Both iconography and the finds of human skeletons in ritual contexts seem to indicate that human sacrifice played a significant part in Moche religious practices. These rites appear to have involved the elite as key actors in a spectacle of costumed participants, monumental settings and possibly the ritual consumption of blood. The tumi was a crescent-shaped metal knife used in sacrifices. While some scholars, such as Christopher B. Donnan and Izumi Shimada, argue that the sacrificial victims were the losers of ritual battles among local elites, others, such as John Verano and Richard Sutter, suggest that the sacrificial victims were warriors captured in territorial battles between the Moche and other nearby societies. Excavations in plazas near Moche huacas have found groups of people sacrificed together and the skeletons of young men deliberately excarnated, perhaps for temple displays. The Moche may have also held and tortured the victims for several weeks before sacrificing them, with the intent of deliberately drawing blood. Verano believes that some parts of the victim may have been eaten as well in ritual cannibalism. The sacrifices may have been associated with rites of ancestral renewal and agricultural fertility. Moche iconography features a figure which scholars have nicknamed the "Decapitator"; it is frequently depicted as a spider, but sometimes as a winged creature or a sea monster: together all three features symbolize land, water and air. When the body is included, the figure is usually shown with one arm holding a knife and another holding a severed head by the hair; it has also been depicted as "a human figure with a tiger's mouth and snarling fangs". The "Decapitator" is thought to have figured prominently in the beliefs surrounding the practice of sacrifice. Wikipedia Encyclopedia

Who were the victims of Maya sacrifice? Ancient DNA reveals an unexpected finding

By Katie Hunt, CNN
June 12, 2024

The ancient Maya city of Chichén Itzá in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula has long been associated with human sacrifice, with hundreds of bones unearthed from temples, a sacred sinkhole and other underground caverns.

A long-held misconception is that the victims were often young and female — an impression that has stuck in the contemporary imagination and become hard to dislodge even as more recent research has suggested that both men and women were among those sacrificed as well as children. A study published Wednesday in the journal Nature adds unexpected detail to that more complex picture.

The new analysis, based on ancient DNA from the remains of 64 people who archaeologists believe had been ritually sacrificed and then deposited in an underground chamber, found the victims were all young boys, many of whom were closely related.

“There were two big moments of surprise here,” said lead study author Rodrigo Barquera, a researcher in the department of archaeogenetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

“We were thinking, influenced by traditional archaeology that we would find, a non-sex-biased burial or mostly girls,” he said.

“And the second one (was) when we found out that some of them were related and there were two sets of twins.”

Analysis of skeletons can only reveal so much

The lurid notion that the Maya only sacrificed young women or girls is largely a myth that originated from early and romantic accounts of Chichén Itzá’s sacred sinkhole, or cenote, said Rubén Mendoza, an archaeologist and professor in the department of social sciences and global studies at California State University, Monterey Bay. He wasn’t involved in the study but is an editor of a new book on ritual sacrifice in Mesoamerica.

“This characterization of Maya sacrifice was catapulted to the forefront through media depictions of young maidens (aka virgins) being hurled to their deaths at the Sacred Well,” he said via email.

However, the mystery of exactly whom the Maya sacrificed has been hard to untangle because it’s impossible to identify the sex of a child’s skeleton by analyzing bones alone.

While the pelvis and a few other bones can reveal whether the skeleton was an adult male or female, the telltale differences only emerge during puberty and, even among adults, natural variation can make accurate identification difficult.

This difficulty makes genetic analysis particularly valuable, said study coauthor Christina Warinner, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences and Anthropology at Harvard University and a group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. But the impact of ancient DNA, which has revolutionized archaeology in Europe and higher latitudes, has been more limited in tropical areas because DNA degrades more easily in warm conditions. However, recent advances in ancient DNA technology are expanding its reach, she said.

“We’re getting better and better at retrieving even very small amounts of DNA. And suddenly, we now have the ability to do these large-scale genomic studies and apply ancient DNA as a tool to help us understand the past in Mesoamerica,” Warinner said. “I am so excited about that because this is an area of the world which has this incredibly rich history.”

Boys were younger than 6 when they were sacrificed

The team behind the new study was able to extract and sequence ancient DNA from 64 out of around 100 individuals, whose remains were found scattered in a water chultún — an underground storage chamber discovered in 1967 about 400 meters (437 yards) from the sacred sinkhole in Chichén Itzá.

With radiocarbon dating, the team found that the underground cavern was used for 500 years, although most of the children whose remains the team studied were interred there between AD 800 and 1,000 — during the height of Chichén Itzá’s political power in the region.

All the children were boys, who had been drawn from the local Maya population at that time, according to the DNA analysis, and at least a quarter of them were closely related to at least one other child in the chultún. The group also included two pairs of twins as well as siblings and cousins. Most of the boys were between 3 and 6 years old when they died.

Analysis of variants or isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in the bones also suggested that the related children had similar diets. Together, according to the authors, these findings suggested that related male children were likely selected in pairs for ritual sacrifices linked to the chultún.

“It is surprising to me to see family members, given the enormous time breadth of the deposit, which by radiocarbon dates is now confirmed to have been used over a time span of 500 years, during which these bodies slowly accumulated,” said Vera Tiesler, a bioarchaeologist and professor at the Autonomous University of Yucatán, in an email. She wasn’t involved in the research.

While the study authors believe this finding reveals the only known burial of sacrificed male children, Tiesler said that the ancient Maya ritual calendar was complex, likely with different “victim profiles” for different religious occasions throughout the year and time cycles.

How twins were identified

To avoid sampling the same child twice, the team used the same bone from each child — the petrous bone in the base of the skull.

“Since each child only has one of those, you can be sure that we didn’t double sample any individuals,” Warinner said. “And that’s actually what allowed us to identify identical twins.”

Twins hold a special place in the origin stories and spiritual life of the ancient Maya, Warinner added, particularly a story called the “Hero Twins” in which two brothers descend into the underworld to avenge their father’s death.

It’s not clear how or exactly why the children were sacrificed, but sacrificial methods in use at the time included decapitation and removal of the heart.

“I think we have to remember that death, and everything that these rituals imply, were completely different to us, because we have a very different view of the world than the one that they had,” Barquera said. “For them, it was not losing a child, not losing one of their kids, but an opportunity given by whatever forces to be part of this special burial.”

Connections to present-day community

Warinner said the study was the first time that genetic material recovered from ancient Maya remains was detailed enough to be sequenced, providing a richer picture of who the victims were and to whom they were — and are — related.

The team compared the ancient DNA with that of 68 residents of the present-day Maya community of Tixcacaltuyub. The researchers found the two shared a close genetic signature.

Zapotec civilization originated in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca in the late 6th century BC. The three valleys were divided among three different-sized societies, separated by 80 square kilometres (31 sq mi) “no-man’s-land” in the middle. The city of Oaxaca much later developed in that area. Archaeological evidence, such as burned temples and sacrificed war captives, suggests that the three societies competed against each other. At the end of the Rosario phase (700–500 BC), the valley's largest settlement San José Mogote, and a nearby settlement in the Etla valley, lost most of their population. Wikipedia Encyclopedia

Sacrifices and offerings accompanied by prayers were a main part of the Inca religious ceremonies. Crops and animals, mainly llamas, were sacrificed to keep the good will of the gods. Human sacrifices were made under special circumstances. Most people considered it an honor to be chosen for sacrifice. 2002 World Book Encyclopedia.

As evidenced from human and animal remains found during excavations of the pyramids in the city, Teotihuacanos practiced human sacrifice. Scholars believe that the people offered human sacrifices as part of a dedication when buildings were expanded or constructed. The victims were probably enemy warriors captured in battle and brought to the city for ritual sacrifice to ensure the city could prosper. Some men were decapitated, some had their hearts removed, others were killed by being hit several times over the head, and some were buried alive. Animals that were considered sacred and represented mythical powers and the military were also buried alive or captured and held in cages such as cougars, a wolf, eagles, a falcon, an owl, and even venomous snakes. Wikipedia Encyclopedia

Ancient altar found in Guatemala jungle apparently used for sacrifices, "especially of children," archaeologists say

April 9, 2025 / 9:10 AM EDT / CBS/AP

An altar from the Teotihuacan culture, at the pre-Hispanic heart of what became Mexico, was discovered in Tikal National Park in Guatemala, the center of Mayan culture, demonstrating the interaction between the two societies, Guatemala's Culture and Sports Ministry announced this week.

The enormous city-state of Tikal, whose towering temples still stand in the jungle, battled for centuries with the Kaanul dynasty for dominance of the Maya world.

Far to the north in Mexico, just outside present day Mexico City, Teotihuacan — "the city of the gods" or "the place where men become gods" — is best known for its twin Temples of the Sun and Moon. It was actually a large city that housed over 100,000 inhabitants and covered around 8 square miles.

The still mysterious city was one of the largest in the world at its peak between 100 B.C. and A.D. 750. But it was abandoned before the rise of the Aztecs in the 14th century.

Lorena Paiz, the archaeologist who led the discovery, said that the Teotihuacan altar was believed to have been used for sacrifices, "especially of children."

"The remains of three children not older than 4 years were found on three sides of the altar," Paiz told The Associated Press.

"The Teotihuacan were traders who traveled all over the country (Guatemala)," Paiz said. "The Teotihuacan residential complexes were houses with rooms and in the center altars; that's what the residence that was found is like, with an altar with the figure representing the Storm Goddess."

Researchers posted video on social media showing aerial footage of the altar as well as detail of the structure's interior.

"It's something unique in Guatemala, nothing similar had been found," Paiz said in a statement.

It took archaeologists 1½ years to uncover the altar in a dwelling and analyze it before the announcement.

Edwin Román, who leads the South Tikal Archaeological Project within the park, said the discovery shows the sociopolitical and cultural interaction between the Maya of Tikal and Teotihuacan's elite between 300 and 500 A.D.

Román said the discovery also reinforces the idea that Tikal was a cosmopolitan center at that time, a place where people visited from other cultures, affirming its importance as a center of cultural convergence.

María Belén Méndez, an archaeologist who was not involved with the project, said the discovery confirms "that there has been an interconnection between both cultures and what their relationships with their gods and celestial bodies was like."

"We see how the issue of sacrifice exists in both cultures. It was a practice; it's not that they were violent, it was their way of connecting with the celestial bodies," she said.

The altar is just over a yard wide from east to west and about 2 yards from north to south. It is about a yard tall and covered with limestone.

The dwelling where it was found had anthropomorphic figures with tassels in red tones, a detail from the Teotihuacan culture, according to the ministry's statement.

The researchers published their findings in the archaeological journal Antiquity.

The researchers made their announcement less than a year after a hidden Mayan city was discovered in a dense Mexican jungle by a doctoral student who unknowingly drove past the site years ago on a visit to Mexico.

Tikal National Park is about 325 miles north of Guatemala City, and the discovery site is guarded and there are no plans to open it to the public. Tikal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, reached its peak between 200 and 900 AD when Mayan culture encompassed parts of what are now Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras.

Teotihuacan, famous for its pyramids of the sun and the moon, is located about 25 miles northeast of Mexico City. That culture reached its peak between 100 and 600 AD.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.

Human sacrifice played a vital role in the major ceremonies. Priests slashed open the chest of a living victim and tore out the heart. The Aztec believed that the gods needed human hearts and blood to remain strong. Worshipers sometimes ate portions of a victim's body. They may have thought that the dead person's strength and bravery passed to anyone who ate the flesh. Most victims were prisoners of war or slaves. But the Aztec also sacrificed children to the god Tlaloc. 2002 World Book Encyclopedia.

The Aztec fought not only to enlarge their territory but also to take captives for sacrifice to the gods. Human sacrifice was a major part of the Aztec religion. Only the Aztec and the Inca had full-time armies. In other tribes, warriors went back to hunting or farming after their battles. Some tribes, particularly the Northwest tribes and the Iroquois, made slaves of their captives. The Witoto and Tupinamba tribes of the Tropical Forest tortured war captives and then ate them. But the victims were not eaten as a source of food. The Indians believed the dead person's strength and bravery would be passed on to the person who ate the flesh. 2002 World Book Encyclopedia.