Mere end 140 børn kan have fået fjernet hjerter i oldtidens ofring i Peru

Antropologer har fundet beviser for et massedrab, der involverede mere end 140 børns død, tre voksne, og mindst 200 unge lamaer på den nordlige kyst af Peru.

Det arkæologiske sted, kendt som Huanchaquito-Las Lamaer, repræsenterer et af de største kendte tilfælde af masseofring af børn, der nogensinde er set i Amerika.

Gabriel Prieto, en professor i arkæologi fra National University of Trujillo, der begyndte at udgrave Huanchaquito-Las Lamaer i 2011, sagde opdagelsen chokerede ham og hans kolleger.

"I Peru er vi bekendt med menneskelige knogler, men i dette særlige tilfælde var der så mange skeletter, og de var alle børn, sagde han. Det var forbløffende.

Ofrene var i alderen fra 6 til 14, og ser ud til at være blevet dræbt i en veltilrettelagt og koreograferet begivenhed på en enkelt, forfærdelig dag. Deres mumificerede knogler blev fundet omhyggeligt arrangeret med deres hoveder mod havet og deres fødder mod bjergene. Mange af deres rester blev fundet med knogler fra en eller to unge lamaer liggende oven på dem.

Børnene, både drenge og piger, alle ser ud til at være blevet dræbt på samme måde - med en enkelt vandret skive hen over brystbenet.

Som om alt dette ikke var grusomt nok, forskere siger, at mange af børnenes ribben ser ud til at være revet fra hinanden. Dette tyder på, at deres hjerter blev fjernet kort efter, de døde.

"Vi kan ikke bevise det, men bestemt i Maya-verdenen beskrev de vigtigheden af ​​at tage et hjerte ud, der stadig bankede, " sagde John Verano, en antropolog ved Tulane University i New Orleans og en af ​​lederne af forskningen, udgivet onsdag i PLOS One .

Ifølge radiocarbondatering af de udgravede skeletter, offerbegivenheden fandt sted omkring 1450, da det komplekse og hierarkiske Chimu-imperium styrede regionen. Imperiet blomstrede fra det 11. til det 15. århundrede. På sin højde strakte den sig langs mere end 600 miles kystlinje, fra den nuværende grænse mellem Peru og Ecuador sydpå til den moderne by Lima.

Chimu havde tilsyn med et landbrugssamfund, der var afhængig af et sofistikeret netværk af hydrauliske kanaler til at vande marker. Hovedstaden Chan Chan, ligger et par miles fra hvor byen Trujillo nu ligger, inkluderet paladser og haver, pladser og templer. Det var en af ​​de største byer i Amerika.

Huanchaquito-Las Llamas-stedet ligger omkring to miles nord for Chan Chan, mindre end en kvart mil fra havet. Det blev opdaget i 2011, da beboerne bemærkede menneske- og lamaknogler i eroderende klitter langs nybyggede veje i området.

Prieto lobbyede Perus kulturministerium for at foretage en nødudgravning, før mere arkæologisk materiale gik tabt, og hans anmodning blev hurtigt imødekommet. Senere, han og Verano var i stand til at sikre yderligere finansiering, blandt andet fra National Geographic Society, for at gå tilbage til webstedet i 2014 og 2016.

I den første udgravningssæson, Prieto og hans team afslørede 43 børn og 74 lamaer. Næsten med det samme vidste han, at det ikke kun var en almindelig gravplads.

Børnene var blevet arrangeret liggende på siden i stedet for siddende, den mere traditionelle begravelsesstilling i Chimu-kulturen. Ikke én af dem bar en halskæde af skalperler, og der var ingen keramikgaver begravet sammen med dem. Nogle af de ældre børns ansigter var blevet farvet røde med en ansigtsmaling lavet af cinnober og blev begravet iført ceremonielle hovedbeklædninger.

"Det var ikke typisk for nogen begravelser, vi kender, " sagde Verano.

Og så var der det sikre snit over brystbenet på krop efter krop, herunder på mange af lamaerne.

Antropologer har i årtier vidst, at Chimu lejlighedsvis var involveret i massedrab. I 1970'erne fandt arkæologer, der arbejdede i Chan Chan, resterne af hundredvis af unge kvinder, som blev ofret for at passe kongen efter hans død. Forskere har også fundet knoglerne fra 200 ofre – inklusive børn, voksne og ældre - som blev henrettet af Chimu-krigere engang omkring 1300.

Men opdagelsen af ​​et massivt rituelt ofring af børn var noget nyt.

Melissa Murphy, en antropolog ved University of Wyoming, som ikke var involveret i det nye arbejde, sagde, at mens andre forskere havde fundet beviser for børneofring og massedrab i regionen, selve størrelsen af ​​denne begivenhed og de dødelige sår adskilte den.

"Dette fund er unikt for sin skala, for de forskellige teknikker, og for Chimu, " hun sagde.

Antropologer ved ikke meget om Chimu-trossystemet. Der er ingen skriftlig dokumentation for deres religion, og fordi det meste af deres kunst er symbolsk snarere end repræsentation, den giver kun nogle få hints om deres religiøse praksis. Der er et par gobeliner, der skildrer massedrab, men disse ser ud til at vise krigsfanger, not children.

Stadig, the authors of the PLOS One report say that a clue to what might have precipitated the bloody event at Huanchaquito-Las Llamas lies in the site itself.

The researchers note that the children and llamas were buried in a thick layer of mud that lay on top of the sand. This suggests that the sacrifice occurred after heavy rains caused flooding and mudslides in the area. Perhaps this epic sacrifice was designed to stop the rains.

The northern coast of Peru is generally dry and arid, but occasionally El Nino conditions bring heavy rains and flooding to the area. This shift could have caused catastrophic damage to the Chimu food supply.

"We think that a massive rain was destroying the economy and the political structure of the Chimu and the sacrifice was their reaction, " Prieto said. "We'll never know the true meaning of this sacrifice, but our interpretation was they felt like they were contributing something to solve the problem by giving up their most valuable resource—the life of their children."

Haagen Klaus, an anthropologist at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., who was not involved in the work, said he had little doubt that the sacrifice was a response to the rains.

"When it rains in the north coast of Peru it is almost like the world is upside down, " he said. "Flooding would cause the displacement of people and the disruption of economic systems."

His own research into ritual sacrifice suggests that it is often performed as a way to negotiate with entities that are believed to control natural events.

"In these societies it was the ancestors who controlled water, and in this part of the world water is life, " he said. "An offering that will appease the ancestors may have been seen as necessary to bring the world back into balance."

The researchers have determined that the children were all in good health at the time of their death, and that they likely came from a range of geographic and ethnic communities in the Chimu empire.

By looking to other ancient cultures that practiced child sacrifice, like the Aztecs, Prieto concludes that the children were likely treated especially well in the months leading up to their deaths.

"We know that in Mexico children were prepared for at least six months, given special meals and foods, as well as rehearsals as to how they should behave at the event, " han sagde.

Prieto thinks the three adults found on the site may have been tasked with taking care of the children ahead of the sacrifice.

The adults included two women and one man. Unlike the kids, their sternums had not been sliced, and their ribs had not been spread. One of the women appears to have died due to blunt force trauma to the back of her head. The other woman suffered a blow to the front of her head, but it is not clear that it killed her. The authors say that the man's ribs were broken, but that it is possible it happened after his death.

"I believe these two women and the man were part of a group that was babysitting the kids, and were buried with them at some point, " Prieto said. "We didn't say that in the paper, but my feeling is that they were so closely related to the children that the organizers of the ceremony decided—if they go, you go too."

Verano said there is still more work to be done at the site. He, Prieto and their collaborators plan to do further analysis on the skeletons, hoping to reveal more about who these children were—what geographic regions they came from, what they ate, and what ethnic communities they represented.

På samme tid, Prieto has started excavating another site at nearby Pampa La Cruz, where he has already found 132 kids and 250 llamas. It's a grisly find that leads to an even more grisly conclusion about the mass ritual killing of children at Huanchaquito-Las Llamas.

This happened more than once.

©2019 Los Angeles Times
Distribueret af Tribune Content Agency, LLC.