Ritual killing was a common part of religious sacrifice in the ancient Mayan city of Chichén Itzá. For decades, media depictions cast the victims of these acts as young women and adolescent girls. In an eye-opening discovery, however, an international team of researchers have upended that notion. Completing the world’s first analysis of ancient Mayan genomes, scientists said ritual sacrifices, at least in this context, largely focused on male children and their close relatives — including twin boys.
In a study published June 12 in the journal Nature, scientists analyzed genetic material obtained from the skeletal remains of 64 ancient Mayan children discovered at a religious site in the Central Mexican city of Chichén Itzá. Previous visual analysis of the skeletons posited that the remains of the juveniles were female. The new findings, however, confirmed that all 64 children were male. Additionally, at least a quarter of the children were closely related to another sacrificed child found in the pit.
