HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS OF THE ANCIENT MAYA IN THE ...

37victims (Pagden 1975) manifests itself as cut marks on the skull and the first cervicalelements of the vertebral column (C1-C3). Massey and Steele (1997:73) found deepcuts on the fragments of two children’s cervical vertebrae, which they attribute to“unsuccessful efforts to decapitate the victim.” Moreover, there are several lines ofevidence to suggest that the cranial remains of 20 adults and 10 young children from theskull pit in Colha represent the victims of religious sacrifice. First, the demographiccomposition of the sample consists of both sexes and various age groups, which Masseyand Steele (1997) argue as resembling a group of incomplete nuclear families with somesymbolic importance. Second, the identification of cut marks on the skulls suggests thatthe victims were decapitated, flayed, and buried in a manner similar to Maya sacrifice.Thirdly, the close proximity of the skull pit next to a monumental structure may alsopoint to possible religious sacrifice. Finally, the placement of the older individualsabove the remains of the younger adults may illustrate a “pattern based on deference andrespect” (Massey and Steele1997:76).Cut marks that suggest human sacrifice may also occur in other anatomicallocations of the body. An archaeological investigation in Templo XIII-sub in Palenqueexhumed and analyzed the remains of three individuals. The skeletal remains representan older female individual accompanied by a child (8-10 years old) and a young woman(Blos et al. 2002). The authors posit that the two younger individuals representsacrificial victims interred with the older adult. An osteological examination of theskeletal material uncovered cut marks on the child’s third cervical vertebra and theyoung woman’s ribs and several vertebrae. Blos et al. (2002) suggest that the sacrifice