Skulls found at an ancient Mayan site have revealed evidence of a gruesome ritual from more than a thousand years ago.
Four months ago, archaeologists with the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) announced the discovery of 13 human burials at the Moral Reforma Archaeological Zone.
Moral Reforma was the site of an ancient Mayan city—located in the modern state of Tabasco, southeastern Mexico—whose history may stretch as far back as 300 B.C.
The settlement flourished in the mid- to late-first millennium A.D. before being abandoned around the year 1,000 A.D.
The burials that archaeologists recently discovered at Moral Reforma consisted of human skulls and fragments of jaws, as well as bones of the lower and upper extremities.
The remains were found directly in front of the south stairway of Structure 18—a pyramidal monument south of the site's main temple complex.
INAH researchers subsequently carried out an analysis on five of the skulls, with preliminary results indicating that at least two of them were decapitated as a ritual offering during the Late Classic period (600-900 A.D.) of Mesoamerican history.
The analysis revealed that all the skulls correspond to male individuals. Two of them were between 17 and 25 years old at the time of death, two others were between 33 and 45, and the remaining one was about 25 to 35.
One of the two skulls from the decapitated individuals has horizontal cut marks in one area at the base of the skull.
The cut marks reveal "the use of a sharp object to extract the skull... although it is difficult to determine if this injury was the cause of death or if it was done post-mortem," Miriam Angélica Camacho Martínez, a physical anthropologist with the INAH Tabasco Center, said in a statement.
The researchers also found evidence of cranial modification in all five of the skulls—a sign of high status in Mayan society.
The intentional deformations of the skull were created by placing splints on the head at an early age. Another peculiarity of the burials is that some were found covered with red pigment.
The analysis also revealed tooth problems, including a defect known as enamel hypoplasia. This condition, characterized by a deficiency of enamel, is a sign of malnutrition in childhood or the presence of an infection at an early age.
Additionally, researchers identified tartar plaque and cavities in some of the skulls, indicative of a diet based on carbohydrates, probably corn.
