Identities of Peruvian Teens Sacrificed 1,500 Years Ago Revealed
A groundbreaking study has unveiled the identities of six individuals buried 1,500 years ago at the Huaca Cao Viejo temple in Peru. Among them were two teenagers, sacrificed and interred alongside their elite relatives, shedding light on Moche culture’s kinship-based rituals.
The Discovery: A Burial Site of Elites
The remains of six individuals, including two teenagers, were discovered at Huaca Cao Viejo, an ornate temple in Peru’s Chicama Valley dating back to 500 A.D. The site is associated with the Moche culture, a civilization that thrived along Peru’s northern coast between 300 and 900 A.D.
The graves showed a blend of essential adults and two young teens: a boy aged 12 to 13 and a girl aged 12 to 15. Both kids had marks of strangling, a ritual killing method in Moche culture.
Inside the graves, many items, such as colorful pottery, jewelry, and weapons, showed the high status of these people. Among the buried was Señora de Cao, a prominent figure in Moche society whose tomb remains one of the best-preserved elite burials in Peru. Wrapped in layers of textiles and surrounded by offerings, her internment underscores her high rank.
The teenagers were buried in proximity to the adults, each with a rope still wrapped around their necks. Their placement and method of death suggest they were sacrificed as part of a ritual to accompany their high-ranking relatives into the afterlife.
A New Understanding of Moche Sacrifices
Recent isotopic and genomic analyses published in PNAS revealed that all six individuals buried at the site were closely related. This discovery challenges prior assumptions about sacrificial practices in Moche culture and highlights the importance of familial ties in their society.
According to the study, the teenage boy was the son of one of the buried men, who was identified as the brother of the Señora de Cao. The adolescent girl, buried near the Señora de Cao, was likely her niece. The other two adult men may have been her additional brothers or grandfather.
“This finding takes us into uncharted territory,” the researchers wrote. “The evidence suggests a kinship-driven ritual sacrifice, an aspect of Moche society that has not been previously documented.”
While the exact reasons for sacrificing close relatives remain unclear, researchers speculate it may have been a way to reinforce familial and political alliances or fulfill spiritual beliefs tied to kinship.
The Role of Geography and Diet in Moche Society
The study gave new ideas about people’s ways of living and where they came from by looking at isotopes. Most buried people, like the Señora de Cao, lived nearby and ate lots of meat and corn ‒ foods common in the Chicama Valley due to farming and the sea.
The young girl ate differently, hinting she grew up in the mountains beyond the Chicama Valley. This difference reveals Moche culture’s broad connections and how they linked various regions in politics and society.
“The young girl, likely raised in the mountains, highlights the importance of long-distance relationships in ancient Peru,” the researchers said. “Her upbringing is far away, only to be sacrificed with her significant relative, which makes us ponder Moche society’s social and political life.”
The discoveries indicate that family ties stretched beyond locations, with family members perhaps growing up far away for wise reasons before coming back for major ceremonies or political gatherings.
What These Sacrifices Tell Us About Moche Culture
The Huaca Cao Viejo burial gives a peek into the complicated and ranked Moche society. Earlier archaeological finds have shown how family ties kept political power among Moche leaders.
Two teens related to the Señora de Cao and others were sacrificed, which supports this idea more. By blending family ties with rituals, the Moche used kinship to strengthen political and spiritual power.
Researchers advise against making firm guesses about why these sacrifices occurred. “We cannot say if sacrificing young family members was a cultural rule or linked to certain court plots,” they wrote.
The findings also reveal the two-sided nature of Moche society ‒ one based on local traditions and politics in a wide area. The highland connections in the young girl’s background suggest that Moche leaders operated in a large, connected world using the family as a binding force.
The 1,500-year-old burial at Huaca Cao Viejo provides a new understanding of family roles in Moche sacrifices. Researchers discovered a new side of this old civilization’s rituals and politics by showing the family links among the dead.
As archaeologists continue studying the Moche culture, the Huaca Cao Viejo site remains proof of its advanced yet mysterious social system. The sacrifices of these teens, with their essential relatives, remind us of the complex life ‒ and death ‒ in ancient Peru.
