VERY INCENSE-ITIVE
Ancient skull reveals Mayans used people’s severed HEADS as incense burners following brutal sacrifices
It was found in a sacred underwater cave
AN ANCIENT skull that was used as a gruesome incense holder by a Mayan tribe has been discovered in Mexico.
Experts say the poor victim was likely sacrificed to the gods before tribesmen cut their head off and used it to burn sweet-smelling chemicals.
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Researchers made the disturbing find in mysterious underwater caves near the massive Mayan city of Chichen Itza.
It was filmed as part of a new archaeological documentary series called the Lost Treasures of the Maya.
Led by archaeologist Guillermo De Anda, the team are unsure how long ago the person died, nor how old they were at the time.
They reckon the person was sacrificed deep within the caves as they were believed to be the opening to the sacred world.
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A perfectly cut hole drilled in the top of the skull was the result of a particularly grizzly Mayan ritual.
It means the victim was used as a human incense burner, possibly becoming an ornament in future ceremonies.
The Maya were an advanced civilisation that ruled much of Mexico, Guatemala and Belize for thousands of years.
They were brutally wiped out by Spanish invaders in the 16th Century, leaving few written records behind.
As a result, we know very little about how the group lived outside of the complex temples and cities they left behind.
Caves explored by the team have only been discovered recently, so Guillermo is the first to explore them.
He believes they may lead him to a sacred cenote – a natural pit or sinkhole that leads to an underground lake – which may exist beneath the great pyramid El Castillo within Chichen Itza.
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The Maya Empire explained
Here's what you need to know...
- The Maya Empire was located in the tropical lowlands of what is now Guatemala and reached its peak power and influence around the sixth century AD
- The earliest Maya settlements are dated to around 1800 BC
- Their pyramids and cities are still being discovered and a large 1,000 year old Maya pyramid was found beneath a hill in 2015
- The Maya are one of the few ancient groups known to have built a great civilisation in a tropical rainforest climate
- The ancient Maya people used a complicated writing system involving more than 800 hieroglyphs and they used this to write books
- Some people believe that the Maya calendar predicted that the world would end in 2012
- Chemical signatures of cacao have been discovered in Maya ceramic vessels, suggesting they used to drink a form of hot chocolate over 2600 years ago
- Descendants of the ancient Maya people are still around today and many of them live in their ancestral homelands where they make up the majority of the population
Such cenotes were sacred places to the Maya, and Guillermo believes the cenote beneath the Pyramid may be the whole reason this city was built at this location.
Also found in the caves were several other skeletons – believed to be additional human sacrifices – as well as a treasure trove of ceramics and other pottery.
Guillermo left them all in place so as not to damage them, with proper excavations likely to go ahead in future.
The 'Lost Treasures of the Maya' starts Sunday 5th May on National Geographic.
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In other Ancient Maya news, these incredible photos reveal 60,000 lost Mayan structures hidden for centuries under thick jungle.
Scientists have debated for centuries what killed off the Maya, and recently experts revealed deadly droughts may have been responsible.
An incredible 32-foot-tall super-structure was uncovered inside the Mayan Temple of Kukulcan in 2016.
Why do you think the person was sacrificed? Let us know in the comments!
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