Genomes reveal Mayan sacrifices of pairs of children in Chichén Itzá

June 12. () –

An in-depth genetic investigation of the remains of 64 children buried in the Mayan ruins of Chichén Itzá has revealed a practice of ritual sacrifice of young male couples.

Located in the heart of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza is one of the most emblematic and enigmatic archaeological sites in North America. It rose to power after the collapse of the Classic Maya period and was a populous and powerful political center in the centuries before the arrival of the Spanish.

Chichén Itzá is perhaps best known for its extensive evidence of ritual sacrifice, including both the physical remains of sacrificed individuals and depictions in monumental art.

Controversial dredging of the site’s Sacred Cenote in the early 20th century identified the remains of hundreds of individuals, and a full-scale stone representation of an enormous tzompantli (skull rack) at the core of the site points to the centrality of sacrifice within of ritual life in Chichén Itzá. However, despite its notoriety, the role and context of ritual sacrifices at the site remain poorly understood.

A large proportion of the individuals sacrificed at the site are children and adolescents. Although it is widely believed that women were the primary target of sacrifices at the site, it is difficult to determine sex from the skeletal remains of young men by physical examination alone, and more recent anatomical analyzes suggest that many of older youth may, in fact, be male.

In 1967, an underground chamber was discovered near the Sacred Cenote containing the scattered remains of more than one hundred young children. The chamber, which was probably a reused chultún (water cistern), had been expanded to connect with a small cave. Among the ancient Mayans, the caves, the cenotes (natural sinkholes) and the chultunes have long been associated with child sacrificeand these underground features were widely regarded as connection points to the underworld.

To better understand ritual life and the context of child sacrifice at Chichén Itzá, an international team of researchers conducted an in-depth genetic investigation of the remains of 64 children ritually buried in the chutún of Chichén Itzá.

A RITUAL SACRIFICE FOCUSED ON MEN AND CLOSE RELATIVES

Dating of the remains revealed that the chultún was used for mortuary purposes for more than 500 years, from the 7th to the 12th century AD, but that most of the children were buried during the 200-year period of Chichén Itzá’s political heyday, between 800 and 1000 AD

Unexpectedly, genetic analysis revealed that all 64 individuals analyzed were male. Further genetic analysis revealed that the children had been selected from local Mayan populations and that at least a quarter of the children were closely related to at least one other child from the chultún. These young relatives had consumed similar diets, suggesting that they were raised in the same home.

“Our findings show remarkably similar dietary patterns among individuals who show a first- or second-degree familial connection,” he says. it’s a statement co-author Patxi Pérez-Ramallo, postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institutes for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA).

“The most surprising thing is that we identified two pairs of identical twins,” says Kathrin Nägele, co-author and group leader at MPI-EVA. “We can say this with certainty because our sampling strategy ensured that we would not duplicate individuals.”

SELECTED IN PAIRS FOR SACRIFICE

Taken together, the findings indicate that related male children were probably being selected in pairs for ritual activities associated with the chultún.

“The similarity in the age and diet of the male children, their close genetic relationship and the fact that they have been buried in the same place for more than 200 years point to chultún as a post-sacrifice burial site, in which the sacrificed individuals were selected for a specific reason”says Oana Del Castillo-Chávez, co-author of the study and scientist at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (UNAH).

Twins hold a special place in the origin stories and spiritual lives of the ancient Mayans.. The sacrifice of twins is a central theme in the Sacred Book of the Council of the Quiche Maya, known as the Popol Vuh, a colonial-era book whose history dates back more than 2,000 years in the Mayan region. In the Popol Vuh, the twins Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu descend into the underworld and are sacrificed by the gods after being defeated in a ball game. Hun Hunahpu’s twin sons, known as the Hero Twins Hunahpu and Xbalanqué, proceed to avenge their father and uncle by subjecting themselves to repeated cycles of sacrifice and resurrection to outwit the gods of the underworld. The Hero Twins and their adventures are widely represented in Classic period Mayan art, and because underground structures were seen as entrances to the underworld, the burial of twins and pairs of close relatives within the chultún at Chichén Itzá may recall rituals that They involved the Hero Twins.

“Early 20th century accounts falsely popularized lurid stories about young women and girls sacrificed at the site“says Christina Warinner, associate professor of anthropology at Harvard University and group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. “This study, conducted as a close international collaboration, turns that story on its head and reveals the deep connections between sacrifice ritual and the cycles of human death and rebirth described in sacred Mayan texts.