Jeffrey Quilter, the director of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology at Harvard University, described it as a “remarkable discovery.”
In an email, Quilter told the AP the site provides “concrete evidence” that large-scale sacrifices of children occurred in ancient Peru.
“Reports of very large sacrifices are known from other parts of the world, but it is difficult to know if the numbers are exaggerated or not,” Quilter wrote.
Quilter is heading a team of scientists who will analyze DNA samples from the children’s remains to see if they were related and figure out which areas of the Chimu empire the sacrificed youth came from.
Several ancient cultures in the Americas practiced human sacrifices including the Mayans, the Aztecs and the Incas, who conquered the Chimu empire in the late 15th century. But the mass sacrifice of children is something that has rarely been documented.
The Las Llamas site is located in a shantytown and has been fenced off to stop illegal developers from building homes on it.
Prieto says the site shows how in Peru history can be just around the corner.
“This site surrounded by houses in a working-class neighborhood can tell us a lot about a macabre event that is perhaps one of the darkest moments in our history,” Prieto said. “But this is also part of our cultural heritage.”
Article Appeared @https://www.freep.com/story/news/world/2018/04/28/peru-sacrificed-children-archaeologists/560980002/