Victims of Mayan Sacrifice Discovered with Enigmatic Blue String Between Their Mouths

It's possible that Belize's "Midnight Terror Cave" sacrifice victims were muzzled...

Belize's Midnight Terror Cave was named by residents who responded to a request to rescue a wounded looter in 2006. It was used for burial during the Maya Classic period (A.D. 250 to 925). The more than 100 victims who were sacrificed there more than a millennium ago to the Maya rain god are still leaving hints more than 15 years after their discovery.

Following a three-year excavation project, the authors of this paper¹ came to the conclusion that the more than 10,000 bones found in the cave represented at least 118 individuals, many of whom displayed signs of trauma at the time of their deaths. The most recent research examined dental calculus, or hardened plaque from the victims' teeth, rather than their bones to gain more insight into their dying moments. The paper mentions at least two individuals having strange blue threads stuck to their teeth.

The blue material, perhaps made of cotton, came from Belize's Midnight Terror Cave.(Image credit: Photograph by Linda Scott Cummings/PaleoResearch Institute)