June 13, 2024 1:56 PM

Maya sacrifice of twin boys revealed by DNA from Chichen Itza

In 1967, an underground cistern known as a chultun was discovered near a sacred body of water at Chichen Itza, an important ancient Maya city on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. Skeletal remains of more than 100 children were found inside.   Now, DNA obtained from 64 of them is offering insight into child sacrifice at Chichen Itza in the centuries before Europeans reached the New World. Those entombed were all boys - some of them brothers, including two sets of identical twins - killed during reli...