The gruesome ritual sacrifices at Chichén Itzá: Ancient Mayans killed child TWINS in a bid to satisfy the gods of the underworld, grisly study reveals
Today, the ruined city of Chichén Itzá in Mexico is a major tourist attraction, attracting approximately two million people from around the world every year.
The beautiful ancient buildings of Chichén Itzá – including the famous pyramid of El Castillo, almost 30 meters high – are a testament to the skill of the Mayan people.
But the former city hides a gruesome secret, as the Mayans engaged in brutal ritual murders of children about 1,000 years ago to appease the gods.
A new study of skeletal remains found at the site has revealed that their victims were boys between the ages of 3 and 6, some of whom were twins.
As part of a bloody public event, the boys were said to have been slaughtered with knives, spears or axes before their bodies were placed in an underground storage chamber.
El Castillo, also known as the Temple of Kukulcan, is one of the largest structures in Chichén Itzá – the ruined ancient city in Mexico
A full-size stone representation of a huge tzompantli (skull rack) at the core of the sacrificial site at Chichén Itzá
The study was led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
Chichén Itzá is one of the New 7 Wonders of the World, but it was once a thriving city, originally built by the Mayan people about 1,500 years ago.
Mayans engaged in the brutal act of human sacrifice because they believed that blood was a powerful source of nourishment for their gods – and that in return they would receive rain and fertile fields.
Chichén Itzá is already known for its ritual killings, evidenced by remains of both sacrificed people and art, including ‘tzompantli’ (stone carvings of skulls).
In 1967, the remains of more than a hundred young children were found a ‘chultun’ – a bottle-shaped chamber designed for underground storage – at Chichén Itzá.
Such underground features were seen at the time as connection points to the underworld – the supernatural world of the dead.
For their new study, the researchers conducted genetic analyzes on the remains of 64 of these individuals to reveal their gender.
“When we analyze the genome, there are regions that are part of the Y chromosome, which is only found in male individuals,” study author Rodrigo Barquera from the Max Planck Institute told MailOnline.
“So if we find those regions as part of our genetic data, we can confidently say that the sex of that individual is male.”
Chichén Itzá is today a popular tourist attraction and one of the New 7 Wonders of the World, but it was once a thriving city, originally built by the Mayans about 1,500 years ago
Sculpture at the Great Ballcourt at Chichén Itzá depicts sacrifice by beheading. The figure on the left holds the severed head of the figure on the right, who squirts blood in the form of snakes from his neck
Until now, there was a widespread belief among academics that Chichén Itzá primarily sacrificed women.
This is largely due to early 20th century accounts that popularized “lurid stories” about young women and girls as victims.
But the new genetic analysis unexpectedly shows ‘with certainty’ that all 64 individuals tested were boys – and that two identical twins were also involved.
“Given that such twins occur spontaneously in only 0.4 percent of the general population, the presence of two sets of identical twins in the chultun is much higher than would be expected by chance,” the authors point out.
The results show that at least a quarter of the children were closely related to at least one other child in the chultun.
Their “close biological relationship” could somehow have been seen by the Mayans as a better offering to the gods.
Twins are especially ‘auspicious’ in Mayan mythology and the sacrifice of twins is a central theme in the sacred K’iche’ Mayan Book of Council, the ‘Popol Vuh’.
Section of reconstructed stone tzompantli, or skull rack, at Chichén Itzá. These are wall carvings; there are no skulls in the stone
In 1967, the remains of more than 100 young children were found in a ‘chultun’ – a bottle-shaped chamber designed for underground storage
Furthermore, these young victims – all from local Mayan populations – had followed similar diets, the analysis found, suggesting they were raised in the same household.
They were probably killed as part of a twisted public display before their bodies were placed in the chultun.
The dating of the remains also showed that the chultun was used for mortuary purposes for more than 500 years, from 600 to 1100 AD.
Most of them were killed and buried during the 200-year period of Chichén Itzá’s “political peak” between 800 and 1,000 AD.
The Mayan civilization emerged around 2600 BC and flourished in Central America for almost 3,000 years, reaching its peak between 250 and 900 AD.
The Maya were known for having the only fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas and had advanced art and architecture, as well as mathematical and astronomical systems.
But the findings provide the greatest insights yet about the poor young victims who died from their deviant rituals.
The study – ‘Ancient genomes reveal insights into ritual life at Chichén Itzá’ – was published today in the journal Nature.
