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Archaeologists in Mexico have found the burials of 13 people — together with two who had been beheaded as a part of sacrificial rituals and 5 whose skulls had been elongated by way of intentional deformation — close to a Maya pyramid on the Ethical-Reforma archaeological web site close to Tabasco.
Mexico’s Nationwide Institute of Anthropology and Historical past (INAH) initially discovered the burials in April however introduced their findings this week after analyzing the human stays. The burials date to between A.D. 600 and 900, a time when the Maya civilization flourished within the area, the INAH mentioned in an Aug. 23 translated assertion. The burials include human skulls, fragments of jaws, and bones of the decrease and higher extremities, the archaeologists mentioned within the assertion. Their evaluation additionally revealed that a few of the bones had been coated in purple pigment.
An anatomical examination revealed that all the people had been males between the ages of 17 and 35. In the course of the first millennium, the Maya generally sacrificed their prisoners of warfare, nevertheless it’s unclear for now if these individuals had been captives.
Associated: What’s hidden inside the traditional Maya pyramids?
The evaluation additionally discovered that a minimum of 5 of the people had modified, elongated skulls — a form that may be achieved by constricting an individual’s head with bands when they’re younger. This was regularly practiced by the Maya and different historic societies — together with individuals in Japan, the Huns, medieval European ladies, and a few Native American tribes — and will have raised the social standing of those that underwent this apply, the archaeologists mentioned.
Ethical-Reforma was the middle of a Maya kingdom that at instances was allied with different Maya cities, resembling Calakmul and Palenque, in keeping with the INAH. Excavation and analysis at Ethical-Reforma is ongoing; up to now, archaeologists have unearthed 76 buildings courting to earlier than the arrival of the Spaniards. Nevertheless, the Maya worshipped many deities, and it is not clear which god(s) this specific pyramid served.
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