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DNA Analysis Hints at "Elite Family's Ritual" in Mexico
Archaeology Magazine ^ | August 15, 2024 | editors / unattributed

Posted on 08/16/2024 10:59:50 AM PDT by SunkenCiv

DNA analysis of human remains unearthed in the twentieth century in northwestern Mexico at the Mogollon culture site of Paquimé, or Casas Grandes, suggests that the individual's parents had been closely related, according to a Newsweek report. The study of the bones, led by Jakob Sedig of Harvard University, determined that the boy had lived locally, and was between the ages of two and five at the time of death, which occurred between A.D. 1301 and 1397. Discovered beneath a roof support beam, the child was thought to have been a member of an elite family who was sacrificed to consecrate the construction of a ceremonial structure known as the House of the Well. But the close relationship between his parents was a surprise, Sedig explained. "The data suggests his parents weren't as closely related as siblings but were more closely related than first cousins," he said. An elite family is now thought to have used the sacrifice to consolidate and legitimize their social standing. "There were other sacrificial victims at the site (in a building called the House of the Dead) who were not treated nearly as well as the child in our study," Sedig added. "So it seems to us that there was something special, unique, and/or important about [this] child sacrifice," he concluded.

(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: ancientautopsies; casasgrandes; genealogy; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; mogollonculture; paquime
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Adobe architecture at Paquimé
Sedig et al. 2024, © Antiquity Publications Ltd.
Sedig et al. 2024, © Antiquity Publications Ltd.

1 posted on 08/16/2024 10:59:50 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...
There are a couple more Mayan articles coming.

2 posted on 08/16/2024 11:02:05 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: SunkenCiv
The data suggests his parents weren't as closely related as siblings but were more closely related than first cousins

I gotta ask. What's the in between here?!

3 posted on 08/16/2024 11:02:14 AM PDT by Rightwing Conspiratr1 (homonews)
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To: SunkenCiv
An elite family is now thought to have used the sacrifice to consolidate and legitimize their social standing.

Or to keep the gods from visiting destruction on the area because of their incest?

Oh no, they killed their healthy child in a ritual sacrifice to show off for the neighbors. That makes SO much more sense.

4 posted on 08/16/2024 11:04:19 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Roses are red, Violets are blue, I love being on the government watch list, along with all of you.)
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To: Rightwing Conspiratr1

Think three grandparents rather then four. Uncle/niece perhaps.


5 posted on 08/16/2024 11:06:42 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Roses are red, Violets are blue, I love being on the government watch list, along with all of you.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Did they shower with their daughters?


6 posted on 08/16/2024 11:12:46 AM PDT by Track9 (If you want to know about human nature, read a power tool user manual. )
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To: SunkenCiv

One of my cousins was married to an archaeologist-in the early 1980’s, he was in charge of one of the digs at Casas Grandes, so my husband and got hired on his crew on our vaca-to dig/sift/bag and document literally every bit of trash, etc. It was a wonderful experience to hold a part of the far past-and maybe my native ancestry literally in your hands.

Casas Grandes was sacked in a tribal war in the early 1300’s and the survivors took off to the Sierra Madre area-the burn marks on the buildings and livestock pens, scattered bones, etc were easy to see-it was obviously brutal.

The whole place is spooky as hell-especially the House of the Well (which is what it is-a building with a big well inside)-there is no amount of money that would keep me there after dark-there are shadows, rustling noises, and that feeling of being watched. But if I had the chance to go on a dig there again, I probably would...


7 posted on 08/16/2024 11:46:18 AM PDT by Texan5 (`"You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Human sacrifice was going on everywhere centuries ago for all sorts of reasons-none good-people were ignorant-and if they envied or feared you, they might leave you alone-or they might sacrifice or kill you one way or another. The druids burned people in cages-and the Spanish Inquisition tortured all non-Catholics-most to death, people in Europe and the New World burned people they called witches and heretics, etc, etc...


8 posted on 08/16/2024 11:56:05 AM PDT by Texan5 (`"You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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To: Texan5

Sounds like a great vacation!


9 posted on 08/16/2024 12:23:36 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Just keepin’ it in the family.


10 posted on 08/16/2024 12:25:33 PM PDT by bgill
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To: Rightwing Conspiratr1

Uncle-niece?


11 posted on 08/16/2024 1:01:07 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: Rightwing Conspiratr1

half-siblings. Uncle/Aunt.


12 posted on 08/16/2024 2:26:08 PM PDT by ModelBreaker
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To: SunkenCiv

It was-we had visited the cousin’s husband on digs before, and got to work for a few hours, but those were well-known sites in NM, not in another country, and we didn’t get to work there for 2 weeks. I did get to keep something from Casas Grandes-a perfect little arrowhead less than 2 inches long-the kind some call a bird point-it was in some dirt and ashed sifted by a big firepit. I would not have kept it if it had been near any human bones-that would be bad luck...


13 posted on 08/16/2024 2:47:32 PM PDT by Texan5 (`"You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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To: SunkenCiv

I don’t take hints. I’m a dude.


14 posted on 08/16/2024 2:57:23 PM PDT by subterfuge (I'm a pure-blood!)
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To: SunkenCiv

Impossible.

They were nice people who collected flowers and played drums and did drugs.

Kind of early hippies.


15 posted on 08/16/2024 2:58:21 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer” )
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To: subterfuge

You probably don’t stop to ask for directions, and wound up driving right by this place in Mexico.


16 posted on 08/16/2024 3:03:14 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: blueunicorn6

Bad ‘shrooms.


17 posted on 08/16/2024 3:03:39 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Me in Mehico? Hilarious.


18 posted on 08/16/2024 3:04:17 PM PDT by subterfuge (I'm a pure-blood!)
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To: SunkenCiv

They’ll get you every time.


19 posted on 08/16/2024 3:07:17 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer” )
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To: subterfuge

Guadalajara won’t do, or that’s what I heard anyway.


20 posted on 08/16/2024 3:09:00 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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