Along with deep brown , gold , and astronomy , the Maya civilisation was also middling warm of sacrificing kids . archaeologist have recently been scouring the Maya city of Seibal in present - day Guatemala and name these sacrificial ritual were even stranger than previously thought .
During their excavation , as report in the journalJournal of Field Archaeology , researchers fromIbaraki Universityin Japan found that many of the children sacrifice to the Gods were bury alongside obsidian , a kind of glass created when felsic lava from a vent cools rapidly .
It ’s often a sheeny shameful vividness , extremely arduous , and brittle . This means it ’s an ideal material with which to make sharp tool and weaponry .
The Maya city of Ceibal was first excavated in the 1960s . It remained a colonization for nearly 2,000 years and is one of the biggest sites come up in the sweaty lowland Petexbatun area of Guatemala . It now consists of ruined monolithic structure , admit plazas , pyramids , carve stone monuments , and nursing home to the elite .
The four graves date back to the late Middle Preclassic period around 950 BCE and contained a sum of 42 obsidian artifacts . One turn back the bodies of five children , three of which were younger than one year of age , with each organic structure being put in the shape of a crossing . Alongside them were five piece of obsidian , one of which was placed centrally in the cross between their bodies . The attention apply to this formation suggests it had some kind of ritualistic purpose involving the cosmos . Another grave accent had two infants , aged between two and four , bury face - to - face with a piece of obsidian placed as an offering , as well slut stone and shellfish beads .
Archeologists have collected over 12,000 obsidian artifacts from this Maya site and other nearby settlements . Nevertheless , it was still a highly valued and rare good in the Maya lowlands during this clock time . Ritual burials with obsidian are also not peculiarly well - documented .
These new dig , the researchers claim , show that obsidian played a substantial role in ancient Maya ethnic practices , most likely for some divine or supernatural purpose . It also undoubtedly convey a sentiency of exotic rareness , as it must have been import from the volcanic highlands many miles forth .
