A mass sacrifice of children and camelids at the Huanchaquito-Las Llamas site, Moche Valley, Peru

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 3; p. e0211691
• Main Authors: Prieto, Gabriel, Verano, John W., Goepfert, Nicolas, Kennett, Douglas, Quilter, Jeffrey, LeBlanc, Steven, Fehren-Schmitz, Lars, Forst, Jannine, Lund, Mellisa, Dement, Brittany, Dufour, Elise, Tombret, Olivier, Calmon, Melina, Gadison, Davette, Tschinkel, Khrystyne
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 06.03.2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: 15th century; Advertising executives; Animals; Archaeological dating; Archaeology; Archaeology - methods; Biological anthropology; Biology and Life Sciences; Camelids; Camelids, New World - physiology; Carbon - chemistry; Ceremonial Behavior; Child; Children; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA sequencers; Earth Sciences; Environment; Excavation; Female; Flooding; Floods; Genetic research; Girls; Heavy rainfall; Historic buildings & sites; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Interdisciplinary studies; Laboratories; Male; Mass murder; Medicine and Health Sciences; Minority & ethnic groups; Motivation; Museums; Nitrogen - chemistry; Ostomy; People and Places; Peru; Physical Sciences; Radiocarbon dating; Radiometric dating; Radiometric Dating - methods; Rain; Rainfall; Research and Analysis Methods; Social Sciences; Stable isotopes; Stratigraphy; Thoracic surgery; Peru; California; France; United States > US; Archaeology; Deformation; Valleys; Collagens; Radioactive carbon dating; Children; Peru; Osteology
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211691

Here we report the results of excavation and interdisciplinary study of the largest child and camelid sacrifice known from the New World. Stratigraphy, associated artifacts, and radiocarbon dating indicate that it was a single mass killing of more than 140 children and over 200 camelids directed by the Chimú state, c. AD 1450. Preliminary DNA analysis indicates that both boys and girls were chosen for sacrifice. Variability in forms of cranial modification (head shaping) and stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen suggest that the children were a heterogeneous sample drawn from multiple regions and ethnic groups throughout the Chimú state. The Huanchaquito-Las Llamas mass sacrifice opens a new window on a previously unknown sacrificial ritual from fifteenth century northern coastal Peru. While the motivation for such a massive sacrifice is a subject for further research, there is archaeological evidence that it was associated with a climatic event (heavy rainfall and flooding) that could have impacted the economic, political and ideological stability of one of the most powerful states in the New World during the fifteenth century A.D.