Sacrificed children with hearts removed uncovered in 700-year-old mass grave

Archeologists have stumbled upon grisly details following a chilling 2022 discovery of a 700-year-old burial mound in Peru that contained the remains of 76 children and two adults – all of whom had their chests cut open.
The mound measures 197 by 66 feet.
Researchers have found copper and silver squares sown into children’s clothing, ear ornaments, and Spondylus shells that were “more valuable than gold for these people,” according to Gabriel Prieto, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Florida.
Multiple sacrifice sites have already been located at Pampa La Cruz, near the coastal city of Trujillo in northwestern Peru, with this site being the latest.
The sacrifices are connected to the Chimú, a large civilization that predated the Incas and lived in this region from the 12th to 15th centuries. The Chimú are popular for their textiles and artwork.
The children that were sacrificed were found buried naked with the clothes near them. Their chests were cut open from the collarbone down to the sternum, their ribs forced open, potentially to rip out their hearts, according to previous research on other sacrificial grounds in the area.
Researchers conducted further analysis of these victims in 2022 to find that all of the victims had cranial modifications, where the malleable skull of an infant was elongated using boards and head wraps by the Chimú.
Archeologists believe that the children and their families – presumably of Lambayeque origin – may have been conquered by the Chimú and brought to the region to build complex irrigation systems that would help them grow food. After the systems were built, the children were seemingly sacrificed to “strengthen the lands,” Prieto said.
“The children’s burial in this mound was possibly an offering to energize the fields,” he explained. “In Andean cosmology, the dead people become ancestors, and the ancestors legitimize the land rights, and justify and support the systems that keep the land producing.”