Who Were the Victims of Mayan Sacrifice?
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https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07509-7
A long-held misconception is that the victims were often young and female — an impression that has stuck in the contemporary imagination and become hard to dislodge even as more recent research has suggested that both men and women were among those sacrificed as well as children. A study published Wednesday in the journal Nature adds unexpected detail to that more complex picture.
The new analysis, based on ancient DNA from the remains of 64 people who archaeologists believe had been ritually sacrificed and then deposited in an underground chamber, found the victims were all young boys, many of whom were closely related.
