Child Sacrifice by Elite Parents at Paquimé

A team of archaeologists and genetic scientists have completed an extensive DNA analysis of the skeletal remains of a child who was buried several hundred years ago at the pre-Columbian site of Paquimé (Casas Grandes), which is located in the state of Chihuahua in northern Mexico. In a new study just published in Antiquity, the researchers show that this child’s parents were closely related elites, possibly half-siblings. Furthermore, the researchers reveal that this child was sacrificed to the gods, in a ritual that would have been considered extremely powerful because of its association with an aristocratic bloodline.

Unraveling the Mysteries of Paquimé

At the height of its prosperity and influence in the 13th and 14th centuries, Paquimé was essentially the capital of the pre-Columbian Mogollon culture. As its adobe ruins have been well-preserved, the site has been heavily explored by archaeologists over the past several decades. But researchers still have a lot to learn about the society the people of the Mogollon culture built, and about the  genetic history of the people who lived in Paquimé specifically.

“Archaeologists have studied Paquimé for decades and have learned much about its rise and fall, the people who lived there, their ritual practices, and more”, the new study’s lead author, Dr. Jakob Sedig from Chronicle Heritage and Harvard University, explained in a press release. “However, many questions remain, especially about the site’s social hierarchy and how Paquimé’s inhabitants were biologically related to each other and their neighbors.”

This is a knowledge gap the genetic study of the child found buried there was designed to partially fill, and the researchers believe what they’ve discovered does shed at least some light on elite practices associated with the Mogollon culture in ancient Paquimé.

Part of the Paquimé settlement known as Macaw Pens. (DiSchamelrider/CC0)

Interpreting Social, Political, and Ritual History through Genetic Studies

Assisted by colleagues from institutions in the United States and Mexico, D. Sedig performed an exhaustive DNA analysis of the remains of a child who’d been buried approximately seven or eight hundred years ago in Paquimé inside a unique structure known as the “House of the Well.”

Many ritual objects have been unearthed during excavations in this building over the years, as well as an underground well that has been identified as a sacred location. For this reason, researchers believe it was a ceremonial center, giving a potential ritual significance to anything found there.

Intriguingly, the child was buried beneath a support pole beneath the floor of the House of the Well. The researchers noted that this was the first time a body buried in this manner has been unearthed in this part of the world, suggesting the choice of a burial spot had ritual meaning.

Archaeological Zone of Paquimé, Casas Grandes, Mexico. (Francesco Bandarin/CC BY-SA 3.0)

The Genetic Puzzle: Close-Kin Marriage Among Elites

The DNA analysis of the child produced an even more unusual discovery. It seems the child had a surprisingly long “run of homozygosity” or (RoH) inside its genome, which revealed that the child’s most immediate ancestors (the parents) were closely related. A long RoH means that a lot of duplicate DNA has been found, and in this instance there was so much genetic overlap that the researchers knew the parents had to have been relatives, more closely related than if they’d been first cousins.

Close-kin relationships have been viewed as taboo in most cultures, ancient as well as modern. But in ancient times exceptions were frequently made for elites, based on the desire of elite families to preserve their power by preserving their bloodlines. But previous researchers who’ve looked closely at the burial of the child have concluded that this young person was the victim of a ritual sacrifice, meaning preservation of the bloodline wasn’t the major consideration in this case.

“Studies of pre-contact Mesoamerican rituals have shown that human sacrifice was one of the most potent ways to placate the gods or receive their assistance, with elite sacrifice being the most powerful,” the study authors wrote in their Antiquity article.

“Sacrificing a child born of two people from a local, elite lineage would have been a powerful way to consecrate the House of the Well and augment social, political and ritual standing.”

The researchers say their discoveries are important, since they do reveal some fascinating details about the social organization of pre-Columbian societies in Mexico.

“These results provide unique insight into social hierarchy and socio-religious practices at Paquimé,” Dr. Sedig asserted. “The next steps in this research are to continue analyzing the ancient DNA of individuals from Paquimé and northern and western Mexico to help us understand how different groups moved and mixed through time.”

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Solving the Mysteries of the Legendary City of Paquimé

Occupied from approximately 1200 through 1450 and featuring around 1,100 rooms made from adobe, Paquimé (the word means ‘Casas Grandes’ or large houses in Spanish) was unquestionably the political and ceremonial center of its greater region, which would have encompassed the current northern half of Mexico and the southwestern part of the modern-day United States.

In addition to its adobe houses and apartment buildings, the ruins of Paquimé  also include a 370-foot (113-meter)-long serpent shaped mound, another large mound shaped somewhat like a cross, multiple plazas, two ballcourts, several roasting pits, and an aqueduct system that carried water from a spring located 3.7 miles (six kilometers) away. Excavations have unearthed an impressive collection of goods that would have been exchanged in Paquimé through trade, revealing just how wealthy and active the city was in its pre-Columbian heyday.

As one of the great cities of its time, Paquimé still has many secrets left to reveal, simply because the site is so vast and complex. Serious excavations have been going on there for more than 60 years, and an end to these explorations appears to be nowhere in sight.

Top image: Adobe architecture at Paquimé.      Source: Sedig, J. et al/Antiquity Publications Ltd

By Nathan Falde