A team of archaeologists has found a 700 year old burial mound that contains the remains of 76 children and two sacrificed adults, all of them with their chests cut open, as published by Live Science.
The burial mound has been found at Pampa La Cruz, near the coastal city of Trujillo, in northwestern Peru, and is related to the Chimú civilizationwhich inhabited the region between the 12th and 15th centuries. “The Chimú people predated the Incas and are known for their artwork and textiles,” states the article by Live Science.
The finding has discovered that the children “were buried naked, with their clothes close to them” and that their chests “had been opened from the clavicle to the sternum, and their ribs had been forced openpossibly to gain access to his heart”, as suggested by previous research on other burial mounds at Pampa la Cruz.
Inside the discovered burial mound, researchers have found silver and copper squares stitched to children’s clothing, as well as ear ornaments and shells from spondylusa genus of mollusks found in the Pacific Ocean.
These shells “were more valuable than gold for this civilization,” said Gabriel Prieto, professor of anthropology at the University of Florida, who is directing the excavations at Pampa La Cruz.