The Peruvian sacrifice site also saw over 200 llamas slaughtered.
What is believed to be the biggest child sacrifice in history has been discovered in Peru, with skeletons of over 140 children unearthed at the archaeological site of Huanchaquito-Las Llamas. The mass-sacrifice site, which was dated to around 1450 A.D., also saw over 200 llamas killed—and scientists working at the site are now trying to determine what could have led to such an extreme and violent ritual.
Verano, together with Gabriel Prieto of the National University of Trujillo, Peru, and colleagues have now published their scientific findings in the journal PLOS One. Prieto told Newsweek they believe the ritual took place over a short time period—possibly just one to five days. Sacrifices—both human and animal—are found throughout history and cultures. Often, they were performed as part of a funeral or spiritual rituals.
“There was no suggestion from ethnohistoric sources or historic accounts of child or camelid sacrifices being made on such a scale in northern coastal Peru,” Verano said. “We were fortunate to be able to completely excavate the site and to have a multidisciplinary field and laboratory team to do the excavation and preliminary analysis of the material. This site opens a new chapter on the practice of child sacrifice in the ancient world.
“While the correlation between heavy rains and the sacrifice may be coincidental, it is tempting to hypothesize that the two events are associated, and that the mass offering of children and camelids may have been an attempt to appease the gods and mitigate the effects of a major ENSO [El Niño Southern Oscillation, which normally brings floods to Peru] event that occurred around 1400 to 1450 A.D.
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