Homo sapiens in nearly every part of the world has practiced human sacrifice at some point over at least five millennia, often killing females in fertility rites or for burial alongside powerful males.
But new research enabled by DNA analysis and other scientific advances has challenged assumptions about the identity of sacrificial victims, at least among the Maya of Central America.
Between 900 and 1,400 years ago, the Maya regularly sacrificed boys—particularly twins or close male relatives—according to a study published in June in the journal Nature….
For the ancient Maya, being sacrificed was considered a privilege, so these boys—most of whom were between the ages of 3 and 6—were likely given up willingly by their families, according to Rodrigo Barquera, an immunogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and co-author of the recent study.
A possible explanation for the sacrifices lies in Maya lore. According to the culture’s written traditions, “Hero Twins”—both male—traveled to the underworld to avenge their father, a twin himself, who was killed by the lords of the underworld. Sacrifices of two male children were likely part of a ritual that helped the Maya honor this part of their mythology and belief system….
“We think of this as such a bizarre practice, something very unusual and unexplainable, but three-quarters of societies did it,” according to Peter Turchin, an evolutionary scientist at the Complexity Science Hub, a Vienna-based research organization, who wasn’t involved in the research….
Children were believed to be among the best emissaries to the gods because in many cultures they were considered purer than adults, and thus better able to communicate with the spirit world….
n addition to learning that the children were male, they found identical genomes in the different bones, revealing the pairs of identical twins. The DNA also revealed genetic continuity between these boys and the modern-day Maya living in the area today, underscoring that those being sacrificed had been chosen from within the local community near Chichén Itzá, rather than being outsiders. The findings run counter to historical narratives passed down by Spanish officials and priests that Mesoamerican cultures tended to sacrifice enslaved captives.
For the scientific study, see here.
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