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Archaeologists find hundreds of human skulls with partial spines attached in suspected Mexican “sacrifice” site

Coatlicue, also known as Teteoinan, The Mother of Gods

Archaeologists from Georgia State University were digging an empty field in Mexico when they ran across an amazing discovery – hundreds of thousand-year-old human skulls with just one or two vertebrae attached indicating the site may have been a religious ritual site used for human sacrifices. 

The archaeologists made the find in an area that was once a huge, isolated lake (Lake Xaltocan) located many miles from the nearest major city of the day.  The general area in which they were found surrounds the kingdom of Teotihuacan (home to the Pyramid of the Sun), about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from Mexico City. The vast ancient kingdom flourished from around the year 200 to 650, though who built it remains a mystery. The skulls were found lined up along with incense burners, water-deity figurines, and corncob depictions of some sort of ritual involving human sacrifice and farming.

GSU archaeologists said:

“It’s absolutely remarkable to think about this little nothing on the landscape having potentially evidence of the largest mass human sacrifice in ancient Mesoamerica.”

Carbon dating on the skulls indicated they were at least 1,100 years old.  Most of the skulls analyzed so far have been men.  Thus far, no pictures of the skulls have been released.

Image Credits

In-Article Image Credits

Coatlicue, also known as Teteoinan, The Mother of Gods via Flickr by Xuan Che with usage type - Creative Commons License. December 19, 2006

Featured Image Credit

Coatlicue, also known as Teteoinan, The Mother of Gods via Flickr by Xuan Che with usage type - Creative Commons License. December 19, 2006

 

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