Pictures: Human Sacrifice Found in Maya City Sinkhole

Maya Underworld
Photograph courtesy Tamara Thomsen
The bones of six humans—including two children—jade beads, shells, and stone tools are among the Maya "treasures" recently found in a water-filled cave off a sinkhole at the famous archaeological site of Chichén Itzá (picture) in Mexico, archaeologists say.
The ancient objects are most likely related to a ritual human sacrifice during a time when water levels were lower, sometime between A.D. 850 and 1250, the researchers say.
It's "very improbable" that the remains and artifacts were "just tossed" into the sinkhole, known as a cenote, expedition leader Guillermo Anda told National Geographic News in an email. Rather, he said, they were likely placed there during a ceremony to appease the Maya rain god, Chaak.
Extending from what is now southern Mexico through Guatemala and into northern Belize, the Maya Empire is noted for having the only known written language in Mesoamerica, as well as for its elaborate works of art and architecture. Chichén Itzá was one of the greatest Maya cities on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. (See an interactive map of key Maya sites.)
The discovery of a human sacrifice deep in one the region's cenotes supports the idea that, for the Maya, the sinkholes "represented thresholds of communication with the spiritual and sacred world that lay under the surface of the Earth," said Anda, a professor at the Autonomous University of Yucatán.
(See pictures of famous sinkholes around the world.)
—John Roach
Published July 6, 2011
Going Down
Photograph courtesy Guillermo Anda
A member of Anda's team descends into the Holtun cenote, where the evidence for ritual human sacrifice was discovered during the 2009-10 field season. The sinkhole is near El Castillo, a step pyramid at the heart of Chichén Itzá that was dedicated to Kukulkan, a feathered serpent deity.
At the time of the newfound likely sacrifice to Chaak, the region was in the throes of a long-lasting drought, according to Anda.
"We believe this prolonged drought might have been an important factor in the so-called collapse" of the Maya civilization, he said. The Maya Empire went into a mysterious and precipitous decline around A.D. 900. (Read more about the rise and fall of the Maya in National Geographic magazine.)
Published July 6, 2011
Hanging Out
Photograph courtesy Guillermo Anda
Another member from Anda's team descends into the Holtun cenote during the expedition, part of the Cenote Cult archaeological project associated with Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History.
For the project, Anda and his team systematically explored and surveyed 33 caves and cenotes at Maya sites across the Yucatán Peninsula "where we expected to find representations of ritual activities," he said.
(Related video: "Diver 'Vanishes' in Portal to Maya Underworld.")
Published July 6, 2011
Submerged Skull
Photograph courtesy Tamara Thomsen
The archaeologists found the remains of at least six humans—including this skull—on the ledge in the Holtun cenote.
The remains and other artifacts were found about 70 feet (21 meters) into a horizontal passageway into the wall of the cenote. The only way for the objects to have gotten there, the archaeologists argue, is for humans to have placed them deliberately—during times of drought, water levels were likely low enough that the passageway would have been dry.
To have arrived here naturally, Anda said, the artifacts would have had to fall in the water at a time when the passageway was submerged, as it is today, "stop their trajectory toward the bottom at around ten feet [three meters], then swim horizontally toward the ledge where they are deposited today."
(Related: "Mysteries of 'Sacrificial' Maya Blue Pigment Solved?")
Published July 6, 2011
Mortuary Items
Photograph courtesy Tamara Thomsen
Ceramic vessels (such as the one pictured), animal bones, jade beads, shells, and knives were found with the submerged human remains at the Maya site. These items were likely part of the sacrificial ritual—their presence "is another reason to believe that this arrangement is a mortuary offering," Anda said.
The bones and artifacts were found underwater—about 85 feet (26 meters) below ground level and about 16 feet (5 meters) below the current water level—but they were likely deposited in the passageway when the water was lower, due to drought.
Published July 6, 2011
Lethal Blow
Photograph courtesy Tamara Thomsen
Another of the underwater human skulls found in the Holtun cenote rests on a rock. Analysis of the skull revealed signs of a lethal blow, Anda wrote in a paper on the find presented during the April 2011 meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
Charcoal pieces found around the skull suggest that fire was part of the ritual associated with this individual, Anda noted. Though Maya sacrifice victims were typically war captives, the human remains found in the Holtun cenote don't display telltale signs of nutritional stress, Anda told National Geographic News. (Take a Maya quiz.)
Published July 6, 2011
Dog and Deer
Photograph courtesy Tamara Thomsen
Near the center of the underwater ledge, the researchers found a human tibia—or shin bone—close to a dog skull, a flint knife, and deer bones.
The finding of these undisturbed remains will allow researchers to make "more precise interpretations about what the ritual activity in the cenotes of the important city of Chichén Itzá was," Anda said.
(Related: "Maya Mystery Solved by 'Important' Volcanic Discovery?")
Published July 6, 2011
Scuba Science
Photograph courtesy Tamara Thomsen
Decked out in full scuba gear, Anda heads toward the ledge where the remains of the ritual sacrifice were discovered in a deep passage off the cenote.
The discovery was a natural one for Anda, given his complementary careers as a professional cave-diving instructor and archaeologist. "My specialty," he noted, "is the study of cenotes with a special focus on rituals related to death."
Published July 6, 2011