National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Earliest Mixtec Cremations Found; Show Elite Ate Dog


Email to a Friend	<< Back to Full Story

Illustrations from a 14th-century-A.D. Mixtec codex (top) show the Indian culture practicing cremation, a funerary ritual that was reserved for kings and emperors.

A newfound burial site shows that cremation was practiced in 1100 B.C.—much earlier than previously believed.

Images courtesy National Academy of Sciences, PNAS (Copyright 2008)