New research by UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute core member Lars Fehren-Schmitz reveals a startling discovery that the Moche people, who lived in Peru 1,500 years ago, sacrificed related family members, including adolescents, upon another family member’s death — the first time archaeologists had confirmed such intra-family sacrifice among the Moche people.
“Most of what we know about human sacrifices with the Moche relates to very public and gruesome forms of human sacrifice,” Lars Fehren-Schmitz told Live Science. “There is also no other observation like this reported in the archaeological literature.”
One of the bodies in the tomb was revealed to be the adolescent son of the man he was apparently sacrificed to, while another was the niece of the woman she was believed to have been sacrificed to. Both adolescents were found with cords around their neck consistent with ritual sacrifice. The Moche people are known to have sacrificed prisoners of war, as well as the servants of high-ranking officials upon their deaths, but this is the first time archeologists have found evidence of family members being sacrificed. Read more in the San Francisco Chronicle and Live Science.