Yucatan, Mexico - June 4, 2024

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The Department of Archaeogenetics of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) in Germany, where several specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) participated, has published the results of a genetic analysis that confirms that in Chichen Itza, the mythical Mayan city, sacrifices of male children, especially twin brothers, were practiced for centuries.

The results of the study, published by the scientific journal Nature, reveal the importance that the idea of the duality between gods and heroes of their mythology, often represented by the twin brothers, had for the Mayans. These types of sacrifices had not yet been discovered, and therein lies the importance of the study.

The scientists involved in the study worked in the MPI-EVA Archaeogenetics Laboratory, where they analyzed remains of up to 64 children. This material was discovered many years ago, specifically in 1967, in an underground chamber found northeast of the famous Sacred Cenote.

The place where the bodies were found was a chulten, which were spaces created by the Mayan society where water was stored and which was connected to a cave.

“To better understand the origin and biological relationships of the sacrificed children, as well as their relationship with the current inhabitants of the region, we used a combined bioarchaeology and genomics approach to investigate the 64 subadults buried within the chultun, and compare them with 68 inhabitants current Mayans from the Tixcacaltuyub people, near Chichen Itza, as well as with other ancient and contemporary genetic data available from the region,” said Rodrigo Barquera, who led the study.

This analysis showed that the bodies belonged to children between three and six years old, male, and that there were several brothers and cousins, as well as two pairs of twins. Up to 25% of the remains were related to each other. That is, pairs of children were used for the sacrifices that took place in that area.

Chichen Itza, located on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, is one of the most important and emblematic Mayan cities. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988, in recognition of its cultural and archaeological value.

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Chichen Itza from the air.