A Mayan mass grave told tales of beheading and dismemberment.
The 1,400-year-old bones were found in an artificial cave in the Maya city of Uxul, Mexico. Researchers believe the skeletons belonged to war prisoners or Uxul nobles, a University of Bonn press release reported.
Researchers found marks on the bones indicated centuries-old dismemberment. About 24 of them were found in an old water reserve. Researchers were able to identify the age and sex of 15 skeletons. Thirteen men and two women were between the ages of 18 and 42, many of them are believed to have suffered from malnutrition and tooth decay.
"Aside from the large number of interred individuals, it already became apparent during the excavation that the skeletons were no longer in their original anatomical articulation," Nicolaus Seefeld, a Bonn archaeologist said.
The skulls were completely detached from the bodies and in no apparent order; some bottom jaws were even separated from their parent skulls. The bones were exceptionally preserved, having been encased in clay for over a thousand years.
"This observation excluded the possibility that this mass grave was a so-called secondary burial, in which the bones of the deceased are placed at a new location," Seefeld, said.
Researchers came to the conclusion that a "violent death" had taken place in the area.
"The observed hatchet marks on the cervical vertebra are a clear indication of decapitation", Seefeld said.
"The forehead of another skull shows an unhealed skull fracture, probably caused by a blow from a cudgel. In addition, numerous skulls show signs of cutting with sharp objects, which might originate from stone hatchets," the press release reported.
Many of the skeletons exhibited jade teeth, which may have been a sign of social status, but researchers are not sure if they were upper-class Uxul residents or prisoners from another city. Scientists could use isotope analysis to determine where the people originally came from.
"The discovery of the mass grave proves that the dismemberment of prisoners of war and opponents often represented in Maya art was in fact practiced", Prof. Dr. Nikolai Grube, said.
