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late in an clandestine cave in Guatemala , archaeologists falter upon one C of fragmented human clappers show up signs of combat injury . The discovery paints a chilling picture : The citizenry here were sacrificed during the teetotal time of year to appease theMayarain god — or parts of them were .
" The emerging pattern that we ’re seeing is that there are body parts and not bodies,“Michele Bleuze , a bioarchaeologist at California State University , Los Angeles , secernate Live Science . " In Maya ritual , body parts are just as valuable as the whole body , " she said .
Fragment of a human skull found in Cueva de Sangre in Guatemala.
In the early nineties , a study underneath the archaeological site of Dos Pilas in Petén , Guatemala , revealed more than a dozen cave that were used by the Maya between 400 B.C. and A.D. 250 . One of them — called the Cueva de Sangre , or " Blood Cave " — had a large assembling of human bones scattered on the trading floor , many of which designate evidence of traumatic harm around the time of death .
In a presentation at the yearly Society for American Archaeology meeting on April 24 , Bleuze detailed the squad ’s analysis of the Cueva de Sangre bones and explain why they consider the cave was the land site of an ancient Maya forfeit two millenary ago .
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Archaeologists discovered a series of stacked skulls in Cueva de Sangre in Guatemala.
" There are a few line of grounds that we used to determine that this was more probable a ritual situation than not,“Ellen Fricano , a forensic anthropologist at Western University of Health Sciences in California who examined the trauma to the off-white , told Live Science . For example , the bones were on the surface , rather than buried , and the accidental injury to the bones advise ritual taking apart , rather than straightaway burial .
A fragment of the left side of the frontal bone , for instance , had a mark suggest that someone used a tool with a beveled edge — like a hatchet — on the skull , Fricano said . A kid ’s pelvis bone had a interchangeable cut . Both seem to have been made around the time of death .
Some human remains were also arranged in a nonanatomic way , pointing to a ritualistic nature to their solicitation . On the ground in one part of the cave , excavators found a serial of four stacked skull crownwork .
A fragment of skull bone that has been removed with a beveled implement is shown on the right; on the left, a line drawing of a human skull showing the area the bone fragment came from. The bone was found in Cueva de Sangra.
The combination of injuries discover on the bones ; the in high spirits denseness of human clay in the cave ; and the front of ritual point , such asred ocherand obsidian sword , strongly paint a picture that Cueva de Sangre was the internet site of an ancient Maya ritual forfeit rather than a standard burial praxis , Fricano said .
Sacrifices for a rainy season
Cueva de Sangre is access via a small opening and a descent into a low passageway that open up onto a consortium of water . Both today and in the past , the cave would have been flood for most of the year .
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The cave was likely accessible only during the dry time of year , between March and May , and the researchers call back this timing is a clew to the import of the forfeiture . One of import contemporary Maya ritual solemnisation is call theDay of the Holy Cross . Occurring on May 3 , the festivity happens just before the onset of the rains , and people visit caves to beg for rain and a full harvest .
A clear answer to the mystery of the bones in the cave will require to look a scrap longer , Bleuze said . Analysis of the bones from Cueva de Sangre has only just set about . Further work , let in ancientDNAand stable isotope analysis , is contrive , followed by equal - retrospect publications .
" Right now , our focus is who are these the great unwashed deposited here , because they ’re treated completely differently than the legal age of the universe , " Bleuze say .
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