Washington DC.- The DNA studies, obtained from the bone remains of 64 sacrificed children and found in a chultún in the archaeological zone of Chichén Itzá, made it possible to establish the biological link between two pairs of twins, something that had not been described before.
In 1967, a chultún (underground cistern) was discovered about 300 meters from the sacred cenote of the Mayan city located on the Yucatán Peninsula, and the bone remains of more than 100 children were found inside.
The DNA obtained from 64 of them allowed us to establish that those buried were all men – some of them brothers, including two pairs of identical twins – who were sacrificed in religious rituals, the researchers explained this Wednesday.
“Ritual sacrifice was a common practice among ancient Mesoamerican populations. However, the biological relationships between the sacrificed individuals had not been described before,” said archaeogeneticist Rodrigo Barquera, from the Institute Max Planck of Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) from Germanylead author of the study published in the journal Nature.
Most of the children between the ages of 3 and 6 were buried in the mass grave during the height of Chichén Itzá’s political and cultural influence, between the years 800 and 1000 ADalthough others were from earlier and later centuries, covering a period of 500 years that ended around the year 1100.
Twins feature prominently in the religion and art of the ancient Maya, and their sacrifice is described in sacred texts, such as the Popol Vuh. The twin Mayan heroes, Hunahpú and Xbalanqué, faced the gods of the underworld in cycles of sacrifice and resurrection. Underground structures such as the chultún were considered entrances to the underworld, central to Mayan cosmogony.
“We believe that the inhabitants of Chichén Itzá were trying to symbolically replicate the Mayan mythological stories and the representation of the twin heroes in this ritual burial,” added Barquera, a Mexican researcher, also a professor at ENAH. “For the Mayans, and Mesoamerican cultures in general, death is the definitive offering, and as such, sacrifices have great importance in their belief system.”
“The results indicate that the children were being selected in pairs for ritual activities associated with the chultún,” said Oana del Castillo, researcher at the INAH Yucatán Center.
According to the physical anthropologist, “the ages of the male children, their close genetic relationship and the fact that they were buried in the same place, which was used for mortuary purposes for more than 500 years, allow us to rethink this chultún as a post-sacrificial burial space”, since the precise place where the sacrifice process was carried out is still unknown, the specialist said in a statement from the INAH.
Chichén Itzá is known for its impressive architecture, which includes the monumental structure of the pyramid of Kukulcán, known as El Castillo. Nearby there is a sacred cenote, where the bodies of more than 200 people were found.
“The original purpose of the chultuns was to store fresh water. This had been converted into a burial chamber adjacent to a small natural cave. Both the chultún and the cave were full of human remains,” Barquera explained.
The DNA was extracted from the petrosal portion of the temporal bone, which houses the inner ear. This small bone has proven to be optimal for preserving ancient DNA.
The research contradicted a popular idea in the 20th century that the ancient Mayans preferred female sacrifices.
However, it is still unclear how the children died.
“There are no cut marks or evidence of trauma, which tells us how they did not die. But we have not yet found the cause of their death,” Barquera said.
“During the Spanish colonial period, thousands of Mayan books and texts were systematically burned, and there were concerted efforts to eradicate Mayan religious beliefs and activities and replace them with Christianity,” added Harvard University biomolecular archaeologist and study co-author Christina Warinner.
“As a result, there are many gaps in our knowledge about the specific ritual practices performed by the ancient Maya, and especially about their meaning,” Warinner added. “Among them, human sacrifice remains one of the most misunderstood ritual acts.”
Víctor Acuña Alonzo, current director of the ENAH, also participated in the investigation; Oana del Castillo Chávez, researcher at the INAH Yucatán Center, and Diana Iraíz Hernández Zaragoza, student at the ENAH Molecular Genetics Laboratory, among other specialists.
The DNA studies, obtained from the bone remains of 64 sacrificed children and found in a chultún in the archaeological zone of Chichén Itzá, made it possible to establish the biological link between two pairs of twins, something that had not been described before.
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