By Andrea Hargraves 
In a vacant lot near the city of Trujillo in northern Peru, archaeologists have discovered the remains of approximately fourteen children, all believed to have been ritually sacrificed more than 600 years ago.
“Many of these remains have wounds in their sternum, and some in their ribs,” said archaeologist Julio Asencio.
The scientist said that each child was buried separately. The remains of two adults and nine llamas – believed to be offerings representing sources of food, clothing and transport – were also found nearby.
Asencio said they may belong to the local Chimo group.
Historians believe that the group may have participated in child sacrifice in an attempt to appease their gods after storms and floods. The people were conquered by the Incas decades later.
Scientists have already found another site that would have been a mass sacrifice site for the Chimu people nearby, with 140 children, all with wounds to their sternum and ribs, and presumably their hearts subsequently gouged out, along with hundreds of llamas.
Peru is home to hundreds of archaeological ruins from various pre-Hispanic cultures to the Inca Empire, which extended from what is now southern Ecuador to central Chile about 500 years ago.