Archaeologists find child sacrifice site in Peru

Archaeologists find child sacrifice site in Peru

What has happened?

Archaeologists in Peru have found evidence of the biggest-ever sacrifice of children, uncovering the remains of more than 140 youngsters who were slain alongside 200 llamas as part of a ritual offering some 550 years ago, National Geographic announced in a study

Ancient pre-Columbian people said to have carried out the ritual on top of a cliff facing the ocean

• The site was located on top of a cliff facing the Pacific Ocean in La Libertad, a northern region where the Chimu civilization arose, an ancient pre-Columbian people who worshipped the moon.
• The cliff is located just outside the north-western coastal city of Trujillo, Peru’s third largest city which today has 8,00,000 inhabitants
• The skeletal remains of both children and animals show evidence of cuts to the sternum as well as rib dislocations, which suggest that the victims’ chests were cut open and pulled apart, perhaps to facilitate the removal of the heart

The team

• The investigations were carried out by an international team led by National Geographic ’s Peruvian explorer Gabriel Prieto, of the National University of Trujillo, and John Verano, a physical anthropologist from Tulane University in New Orleans
• The excavations began in 2011 when the team uncovered the remains of 42 children and 76 llamas (camel-like animals) at a 3,500-year-old temple nearby