Site of Mass Child Sacrifice Discovered in Peru

The 500-year-old skeletal remains of over 140 children and 200 llamas were recently discovered at an archaeological site in Peru—evidence of what may be the world's largest child sacrifice, according to National Geographic. Preliminary DNA evidence suggests that boys and girls between the ages of eight and 12 were part of the sacrifice. The remains indicate that their chests had been “cut open and pulled apart.” Human sacrifice has been practiced in numerous cultures around the globe, but more typically with adults. Archaeologists believe the children were sacrificed to ward off El Niño, a weather cycle that warms up the Pacific Ocean and causes mass flooding near Peru and Ecuador.