Mass grave of children in Peru: Bones don't lie.

 Talking about child burials this week, had me thinking how strange it is that there weren't many sites that have a plethora of child graves. I think I thought there would be a lot of child burials due to things like, difficulty of childbirth and various diseases that I thought were mitigating factors that took many children lives before 'modern' technology and medicines. One odd pattern I noticed when Googling child burials and variations of it, was there sure are a lot of sites that look like child sacrifices or mass graves. A bit spooky, if you ask me. Here is one such mass grave of children discovered in Peru in September 2011.

[Fig. 1] A 800 year old skeleton of a Chimú child and llama uncovered in the mass grave. 

This grave was found on the Coast of Peru, near the ancient Chimú capital of Chan Chan. This site dates to be 800 yeas old and contains 42 children and 76 llamas. The Archaeologists who discovered this site believe that these children were killed in a religious ceremony, and that the llamas were to serve as the transport for the children into the afterlife...how thoughtful.

One interesting thing about this mass grave site is that it was the first ritual of the Chimú found outside of the city. Archaeologists have suggested this mass grave was ritualistic in nature after the skeletons of the children were examined. The team thinks that each child was executed with a slash across the chest. Evidence of broken ribs also suggest that after the children were sacrificed as it appears that their chests were opened to remove their hearts.

[Fig.2 ] The ages of the children ranged from about 6 to 18, although most of them were in their early teens.

The Chimú existed until 1470 Ce when they were conquered by the Incans. They were known for their agriculture and irrigation techniques and were highly dependent on water for survival. Archaeologists argue that this offering of children and llamas was made to the ocean in return for aid in water supplies. In Chimú culture and even today in the Andes, children are seen as having a special connection with the spirit world, which is why they could have been sacrificed. Children were seen as liminal beings who could bridge the afterlife and reality. Through this ideology, if children were sacrificed, the Chimú believed they would become Gods. These children were identified as Chimú because as you can see from the picture above preservation of these children was astounding. Many of the skeletons had hair and parts of their clothing and these textiles identified them as Chimú.

[Fig. 3] Archaeologist Oscar Gabriel Prieto kneels by the 800-year-old skeleton of a child recently unearthed near a fishing village in Peru.

 For more information about this newly discovered grave site here is a link to the National Geographic Website :Mass Grave of Children, Llamas found in Dune