Remains of 140 Children Who Had Hearts Ripped Out Suggests Largest Child Sacrifice Event in History

[Zorro]

Over the course of three years, archaeologists in Peru uncovered the graves of 140 children, all killed by a swift cut to their chest, presumably to rip out their hearts. The massive gravesite is shedding light on the mysterious ancient Chimú Empire, and raises question on what could have driven these people to do such a heinous act.

The accidental discovery of child skeletons on a site formerly known as Huanchaquito-Las Llamas was first made in 2011, but it wasn’t until 2014 that archaeologists were able to gain sufficient funding in order to conduct a proper excavation. Now, several years and many hours of manual digging later, the excavation team uncovered the remains of 140 children and 200 young llamas. Although the study on the findings has not yet been published, the researchers involved explained their work in a National Geographic exclusive published on Thursday.

The children are reported to have all been between five and 14 at the time of death, although the majority of the children were between eight and 12 at the time of their alleged sacrifice. The llamas were all less than 18 months old at their time of death.

According to National Geographic, the site is evidence of the single largest child sacrifice event in the Americas, and could possibly be the largest event of this kind in world history.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/remains-140-children-had-hearts-170136714.html

Pretty grim finding.

[MontanaMama]

1. Yikes.

140 children and 200 young llamas. What in the world???

[Lisa0825]

2. In the name of their god, I presume.

[3Hotdogs]

3. Our God is a kinder, gentler God.

All's we ever did was burn a few hundred and torture a few thousand more. But they deserved it because they were witches and heretics.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Largest mass child sacrifice event may be tied to El Nino

BY KAREN GRAHAM 4 HOURS AGO IN SCIENCE

Around 550 years ago, members of the Chimu empire, whose lands encompassed a stretch of desert coast in northern Peru, gathered more than 140 children and 200 baby llamas on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and slaughtered them all.

An accidental discovery of skeletal remains in 2011 on a site formerly known as Huanchaquito-Las Llamas was the precursor to an archaeological excavation that began in 2014.

The delay between the initial discovery and actual examination of the site was held up until the international, interdisciplinary team, led by Gabriel Prieto of the Universidad Nacional de Trujillo and John Verano of Tulane University, were able to get sufficient funding for. a proper excavation.

During three years of careful excavation, the archaeologists found that over 140 children, between the ages of 5 and 14 years of age, along with 200 young llamas were ritually sacrificed and buried on a bluff overlooking Peru’s northern shoreline, in the shadow of what was then the capital city of Chan Chan, a large adobe city in the Moche Valley of present-day Trujillo, Peru.

More:
http://www.digitaljournal.com/tech-and-science/science/largest-mass-child-sacrifice-event-may-be-tied-to-el-nino/article/520902