Archaeologists in Chile unearthed 6 mummified children from an ancient grave. The scary thing is, the children were allegedly deliberately sacrificed or sacrificed in rituals in the past.
The skeletons of the boys were covered with cloth and buried in the tomb with the remains of a noble, who may have been an influential political figure. The aristocrat is thought to have died in his 20s, buried with ties and his hands over his face.
As quoted by us from AFP, the grave was discovered last November about 24 kilometers from Peru's capital, Lima, at a site called Cajamarquilla. The length of the grave is estimated to be about 3 meters and the depth is 1.4 meters.
Archaeologists conclude that the children were sacrificed by residents around the Andes in the pre-Inca period, about 1,000 to 1,200 years ago. Previous findings have also revealed something similar, namely the mummy of a child who was sacrificed.
Ancient Peruvian civilizations such as the Aztecs, Maya and Incas, did have ritual sacrifices, with the belief that those who died were sent to the underworld. The sacrifice was also believed to satisfy the gods they believed in.
"The children may have been close relatives and were placed in different parts of the front of the tomb of the mummy, on top of each other," said Pieter Van Dalen, an archaeologist who took part in the study.
"These children, according to our hypothesis, were sacrificed to accompany the mummy to another world. They were sacrificed to accompany the mummy, accompanying his soul to its final destination, according to the ideology of the population in the Andes at that time," he added.
Previously in the same area, the mummies of 13 people were also found, six of which were children's mummies. They are also thought to have been sacrificed in a ritual centuries ago.