Peruvian Sacrificial Site Contains the Remains of Over 140 Children

by M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
An archaeological dig at Huanchaquito-Las Llamas in Peru was found to contain the mummified remains of 140 children that were part of a mass sacrifice some time during the 15th century. The victims were both boys and girls between the ages of five and fourteen.

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What could have induced the parents of these children to turn them over to be killed in such a grisly manner?

Examination of the remains found the children's hearts were ripped from their bodies. A study of the cranial modification and stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen, indicates the children of both sexes were taken from different regions and groups throughout the Chimu empire.
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The slaughter site spans more than 7,000 square feet, and the remains of 200 young, either alpacas or llamas were found as well. Examination of the skeletons found that both the children and the animals had "cut marks transecting the sternums and displaced ribs" which suggests they "may have had their chests cut open, possibly during ritual removal of the heart".

The excavations were conducted between 2011 and 2016, and radiocarbon dates the remains to about 1450 A.D., when the Chimu culture occupied the area, which is about 350 miles north of Lima.

The now-extinct empire pre-dated the Incas, who did take over many of their practices. The Chimu controlled a 600 mile stretch along the Pacific coast through the Peru-Ecuador border. This strip of desert measured 20 to 100 miles wide. The culture was mostly agricultural, but also survived by fishing. They worshipped the moon, which they believed was more powerful than the sun. The Sican culture, which pre-dated the Chimu people also practiced child sacrifice.

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Child and camelid skeletons buried in windblown sand at the HLL site

​John Verano, a bio-archaeologist at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, who studies human sacrifice said, "This site opens a new chapter on the practice of child sacrifice in the ancient world. This archaeological discovery was a surprise to all of us — we had not seen anything like this before, and there was no suggestion from ethnohistoric sources or historic accounts of child, or camelid sacrifices being made on such a scale in northern coastal Peru."

What makes this discovery unusual is that the victims were all young children.  Around 1350 A.D. when the Chimu expanded their rule, a massacre of 200 victims (children, adults and elderly) was committed. 

During the 1970s, an excavation at the Chimu capital of Chan Chan, only a few miles away from the modern city of Trujillo, found hundreds of young women were sacrificed in a royal tomb to accompany their kings into the afterlife. Human sacrifices increased between the 11th and 15th centuries A.D. in the Lambayeque region. Some of the victims were sacrificed at important monuments, others were killed on solitary hilltops.

Prior to the discovery in Chan Chan, sources describing child sacrifices were limited. Spanish friar Antonio de la Calancha, detailed where children were killed by the Chimu in the Jequetepeque river valley during lunar eclipses. He also named "Mollep", a local healer near the same valley who sacrificed young victims to sacred places or "guacas".

In 1969, at Huanchaco a seaside town, archaeologist Christopher Donnan unearthed what was left of 17 children and 20 camelids buried in a mass pit without any offerings. The remains were dated to 1400 A.D., and  Donnan concluded they were sacrificed. This discovery was the closest, though on a smaller scale to what was found at Huanchaquito-Las Llamas.

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Modern day examples of human and animal sacrifices at HLL and nearby sites.

​Three adult skeleton were found at HLL in 2014.  There were 2 females, one 18 years old, and the second between 20 to 30 years of age. They did not have their hearts torn out, but one was killed by a blow to the back of the head, and the other suffered severe trauma to the face. The third remains belonged to a man 30-40 years of age. He had multiple ribs fractured. Both women were buried crouching face down on their knees, and the man extended on his back. They were placed close to one another and the sacrificed children.

Contrary to the belief that sacrifices were made during times of food shortages, examination of the remains found the children were in good health with only mild nutritional stress.

Cristobal de Molina, a 16th century Spanish chronicler described in his account Account of the Fables and Rites of the Incas that: "Other [children] had their live hearts taken out, and so the priests offered the beating [hearts] to the huacas to which the sacrifice was made." He also recounted llamas and alpacas also had their hearts extracted. The same was observed by chroniclers in the 16th and 17th century, and still practiced in modern highland Peru.

Gabriel Prieto, a professor of archaeology from the National University of Trujillo said it appears that child sacrifice was widespread. At a nearby excavation Pampa La Cruz, he has already found "132 kids and 250 llamas." The site dates back to the Chimú culture (12th-15th centuries AD).

The discoveries made in 2022 found the remains of children ranging in age from 4 to 14. Like the victims at HLL they were cut open from the collarbone to the sternum in order to access their heart. Many of the children had cranial modifications.

Despite all the children and animals sacrificed, possibly to stop adverse weather the gods were not appeased. Around 1470 A.D. the Incas conquered the Chimu empire and their emperor, Minchancaman, was taken as a royal hostage to Cuzco, the Inca capital.

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