A team of researchers have analyzed a burial site from the pre-Hispanic Moche culture in Peru and uncovered a previously undiscovered sacrifice ritual that involved killing of relatives.
In a study published in the PNAS journal, the researchers explained that the data they collected indicates that young Moche people were sacrificed and buried alongside a woman from the Moche elite. The young people appear to have included her niece as well as at least two potential male siblings.
The isotopic analysis upon which the research is based shows that most of the individuals found in the burial site had diets of maize and marine animal protein. This suggests that they spent their younger years near the Chicama Valley, north of the Valley of Moche, in La Libertad Region, northern Peru.
Crucially, however, the youngest individual sacrificed does not have this diet, indicating that this person most likely came from another location.
Newly-discovered ritual sacrifice of relatives provides insight into Peru’s Moche society
The tombs that were analyzed during the research also showed that, as was common in many cultures around the world, the Moche buried members of their elite with a significant amount of goods. The uncovering of the tombs also revealed how the human sacrifices were carried out.
One of the tombs that contained relatives buried together included a young individual with a cord around his neck. This indicates that he died by strangulation, a common sacrificial method in Moche culture.
The most significant tomb found by the researchers was separated from the others and contained the well-preserved remains of an adult female. Referred to as the Señora de Cao, the site is regarded as the best-preserved elite burial in Peru.
The woman was found wrapped in 20 layers of textiles and several other sacred tokens, which included spear-throwers, gold crowns, and nose ornaments.
Besides her remains, another young female individual was found, again with a cord around her neck. This indicates that she went through a similar sacrificial ritual as the tomb of the young man and was most probably buried with an adult relative.
Ritual sacrifice victims were biologically related
Through modern testing, researchers were able to conclude that all of the individuals found at the burial site were biologically related to each other via varying degrees of kinship. Indeed, the archaeologists identified that the human remains analyzed spanned at least four generations.
The team’s findings also show that Moche elites were buried with family members, even those who grew up far away from them.
This research shows that the hypothesis of kinship being key to transmitting status and authority in Moche culture is probably accurate. It also confirms that the practice of sacrificing family members to accompany dead elite members of society was an important ritual, both for their relatives that were alive, and to Peru’s ancient Moche culture in general.