Their latest excavation uncovered numerous additional sacrificial victims, which will allow for a more detailed reconstruction of this unusual event, Verano said. The researchers think that the sacrifice may have been an offering to the sea, or a response to severe flooding brought on by an El Niño event, and that the llamas may have been intended to transport the victims to the afterlife.
“It’s not a place where you’d think to look,” Verano said of the site, located on a sandy ridge 100 yards from the beach. With erosion and construction disturbing the site, the villagers in Huanchaquito “noticed these bones coming out of the sand.”
Some of Verano’s previous discoveries in Peru have revealed adults who were held captive and killed, “but usually not children,” he said.
Story: Carol Schlueter, Physorg | Photo: John Verano
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