Maya sacrifice of twin boys revealed by DNA from Chichen Itza
Send a link to a friend
[June 13, 2024]
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In 1967, an underground cistern known as a
chultun was discovered near a sacred body of water at Chichen Itza, an
important ancient Maya city on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. Skeletal
remains of more than 100 children were found inside.
Now, DNA obtained from 64 of them is offering insight into child
sacrifice at Chichen Itza in the centuries before Europeans reached the
New World. Those entombed were all boys - some of them brothers,
including two sets of identical twins - killed during religious rituals,
scientists said on Wednesday. Most were ages 3 to 6.
Most were interred in the mass grave during the pinnacle of Chichen
Itza's political and cultural clout, from about 800 AD to 1000 AD,
though some were buried in the centuries before and after that, covering
a 500-year span ending at around 1100.
Twins figure prominently in ancient Maya religion and art, and
sacrificing twins is described in sacred writings, including a book
called the Popol Vuh. The Mayan Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque,
underwent cycles of sacrifice and resurrection as they confronted gods
of the underworld. Subterranean structures like the chultun were
considered entrances to the underworld, central to Maya cosmogony.
"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 of the Max Planck Institute for
Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) in Germany, lead author of the study
published in the journal Nature.
"We think that the people from Chichen Itza were trying to symbolically
replicate the Mayan mythological stories and the representation of the
twin heroes in this ritual burial," Barquera added. "For Maya, and
Mesoamerican cultures in general, death is the ultimate offering, and as
such, sacrifices bear high importance to their beliefs system."
Chichen Itza is known for its stunning architecture, including an
impressive pyramid structure now called El Castillo. Nearby is a sacred
water-filled sinkhole called a cenote, where the bodies of more than 200
people were found. And close to that is the chultun where the boys were
buried.
"The original purpose of chultuns was to store fresh water. This one had
been repurposed into a funerary chamber adjacent to a small natural
cave. Both the chultun and the cave were filled with human remains,"
Barquera said.
DNA was extracted from the petrous portion of the temporal bone, which
houses the inner ear. This small bone has proven optimal in preserving
ancient DNA.
[to top of second column]
|
The pyramid of Kukulcan is seen during sunrise at the archaeological
zone of Chichen Itza in Yucatan State, December 21, 2012.
REUTERS/Victor Ruiz Garcia/File Photo
"We sampled only the left portion because that would make sure we
sampled every individual only once. It was not preserved for every
individual in the chultun, therefore we sampled only a subset," said
MPI-EVA archaeogeneticist and study co-author Kathrin Nägele.
"From the genetic similarities of two individuals, we can calculate
the degree of genetic relationship. In this case, we found two pairs
who were so similar they could only be identical twins, and at least
three more who were full siblings. They could have also been twins,
but fraternal twins, coming from two different egg cells," Nägele
said. "This is the first time we are able to confidently identify
identical twins in the archaeological record."
The research contradicted an idea popularized in the 20th century
that the ancient Maya preferred female sacrifices.
The researchers also compared the genomes of the boys to those of
present-day Maya communities, including people from the village of
Tixcacaltuyub near Chichen Itza's ruins. They identified genetic
traits in modern Maya likely arising from immune system adaptations
by their ancestors to an epidemic bacterial infection during Spanish
colonization.
It remains unclear how the boys died.
"There are no cut marks or evidence of trauma, which tells us how
did they not die. But we have not found a cause of death for them
yet," Barquera said.
"During the Spanish colonial period, thousands of Maya books and
texts were systematically burned, and there were concerted efforts
to stamp out Maya religious beliefs and activities and replace them
with Christianity," said 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 their meaning," Warinner added. "Among these, human
sacrifice remains one of the most misunderstood ritual acts."
(Reporting by Will Dunham, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|