Mexico

Reporting of Stefano F.
The remains of 140 children killed as human sacrifice by tearing out their hearts, the largest human sacrifice of children in history
Of Paolo Vites

Evidence of the largest mass child sacrifice ever committed in the Americas has been discovered on the northern coast of Peru, and perhaps throughout the history of the world. Beyond 140 children and 200 llama would have been killed approx 550 years ago as part of a ritual sacrifice. The research was carried out by an international and interdisciplinary group led by Gabriel Prieto of the Universidad Nacional de Trujillo and John Verano of Tulane University. «I never expected it. And I think it's the same for other colleagues too", the comment to National Geographic by the physical anthropologist Verano who worked for over three decades in this region. The site of the sacrifice is known as Huanchaquito-Las Llamas. Here in the 2011 remains of were found 42 children and 76 lama. At the end of the research, finished in 2016, the number rose to 140 children and 200 lama. “It was a ritual killing and it was systematic”, says Verano. «Explaining the sacrifice of children is decidedly more difficult», dice invece Joseph Watts, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. This is because most societies that practiced human sacrifice nevertheless practiced it on adults. (agg. by Silvana Palazzo) Read More