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DNA analysis of human remains from a mass burial at Chichén Itzá in Mexico is revealing new details about the ritual practices of the ancient Maya, as well as their genetic links to modern populations.
In 1967, the remains of more than 100 children were discovered in a chultún (an underground water storage chamber) located 300m from the Sacred Cenote of Chichén Itzá. They are believed to be ritual sacrifices, perhaps associated with agricultural success or offerings to the Maya rain god Chaac. Radiocarbon dating has revealed that the burials were placed in the chultún between the 7th and 12th centuries AD, with most occurring during Chichén Itzá’s 200-year political peak between AD 800 and 1000.
The recent study took samples from 64 of these individuals for analysis. The researchers determined that all 64 were boys aged between three and six years old, in contrast to the ritual sacrifices at the Sacred Cenote, which included a mixture of males and females, and adults, children, and infants. Genetic analysis revealed that a surprising number of the boys buried in the chultún were related to each other, with over a quarter having a brother or cousin in the group. Among them were two sets of identical twins. This is the first time that twins have been identified in an ancient Maya funerary context, and is of particular significance due to the importance of twins in Maya religion, with themes of twin sacrifice appearing frequently in sacred texts like the Popol Vuh. Isotopic study also indicated that the boys had similar diets, suggesting that they were raised in the same area, possibly with the same eating habits and access to resources. It therefore seems likely that these children were specifically selected in pairs from a particular group or restricted set of families.
In addition, the researchers compared the DNA of the ancient children to a group of present-day Maya people who live in the village of Tixcacaltuyub, near Chichén Itzá. This showed that the two groups belong to the same genetic population, demonstrating long-term genetic continuity among the Maya in the region. The analysis allowed, too, for exploration of changes in their genomes over time, in particular highlighting how various genes may have been affected by colonial-era epidemics.
The research has been published in Nature (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07509-7).
Text: Amy Brunskill / Images: L Márquez Morfín and P Schmidt, in Investigaciones Recientes en el Área Maya: vol.II Memorias de la XVII Mesa Redonda (1981), pp.89-104 (Sociedad Mexicana de Antropologı́a, 1984); Mal B
