The ancient Maya civilization of Central America has fascinated scholars for centuries with its incredible astronomical calendar and magnificent step pyramids.

But alongside their glorious culture, they are also associated with another dark cultural phenomenon: human sacrifice. And according to recent research, very It's certainly dark.

New findings from an analysis of ancient DNA from the ancient Maya city of Chichen Itza suggest that many of those sacrificed were children, including a high proportion of identical twins.

Published in a journal NatureThe study looked at human bones found in a xultun, or underground cistern, located near a large sinkhole known as the Sacred Cenote.

Radiocarbon dating (when scientists use decaying radioactive carbon to estimate the age of organic remains) suggests that the chultun was used between the early 7th century AD and the mid-12th century AD.

“The only people in Chultung were children between the ages of three and six.” Dr. Rodrigo BarqueraThe lead author of the study is BBC Science Focus“Until now, we haven't had the opportunity to report the sex of these individuals because when they are that young, you can't determine their biological sex based on the bones alone.”

Moving quickly on from how bleak a hole filled with 100 children looks, DNA evidence revealed that all 64 people tested were male, and about 25% were close relatives, including two sets of identical twins.

The chance of having identical twins is about 1 in 250, so two sets of male twins in such a small sample size is unusual.

Barquera explained that twins had a special meaning to the Mayans because one of their most important myths involves heroic twins who defeat the king of the underworld.

The team believes that unlike other sacrificial rituals that were intended as offerings, the sacrifice of identical male twins may have been undertaken to honour the existence of hero twins.

While that's not great news for identical twins in Mayan culture, as Barquera says, it would have been a huge honor for the family: “It was more like, 'Wow, the gods or the powers that be have chosen us to be the guardians of these children who will one day participate in this magical ceremony.'”

“We know this because the site has been there for over 500 years. This isn't something that happened once or twice; it's been a widely held belief for at least five centuries,” he said.

Next, Barcela and his team hope to confirm their findings by comparing them with other similar archaeological sites.

About our experts

Rodrigo Barquera He is a postdoctoral researcher in the Archaeogenetics department at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. He has authored nearly 200 academic research papers, which have been published in such renowned journals as: Nature and Nature Communications Biology.

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