Oldest Temple Discovered in Mexican Valley: Ancient Priests Conducted Human Sacrifice

Thousands of years ago, the ancient Zapotec civilization flourished in what is now the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. There, a special hierarchy of priests worshipped at a temple and conducted animal sacrifices. Now, though, archaeologists have uncovered something a bit more disturbing about the priests; they also may have conducted human sacrifice.

The Zapotec civilization was an indigenous pre-Columbian civilization that flourished about 2,500 years ago. They built buildings, ball courts, magnificent tombs and grave goods that included finely worked gold jewelry. They were gifted weavers and ceramic artisans; they even developed agriculture. The people were also advanced in terms of the written word; they developed a calendar and a logosyllabic system of writing that actually predated the ones developed by the Maya and Aztec civilizations.

There were three main settlements in the Oaxaca Valley, and eventually the civilization went on to conquer or colonize settlements far beyond the valley. Around 600 to 900 A.D., though, a transition occurred. Local rulers appear to have gained power but then slowly lost it during a process that ended with the almost total abandonment of the Zapotec settlements; the civilization collapsed.

Archaeologists have been excavating the site, called El Palenque, for years. It was the center of what was once an independent mini-state. It included a 9,150-square-foot palace complex, complete with a plaza, along with an even larger complex of buildings on the east side of the site. It's this larger complex that has intrigued archaeologists.

Measuring about 54,000 square feet, the complex includes a large temple, which measures about 4,090 square feet alone. It's the oldest temple complex to have been found in the valley thus far, and it has revealed some information about the way the Zapotec worshipped. The temple was scattered with artifacts, including shell, mica and alabaster ornaments. The researchers also found ceramic vessels, whistles and incense burners.

Yet while these ornamentations are interesting, the archaeologists found some more disturbing artifacts as well. Obsidian blades and lances suggested that the priests engaged in ritual bloodletting and animal sacrifice. The temple also housed the remains of turkeys, doves and other animals. The most telling clues, though, were the human tooth and possible human limb bone that were recovered. It's possible that the priests did, in fact, sometimes engage in human sacrifice.

While the priests conducted rituals in the temples, though, they didn't live there. Instead, they slept in two buildings behind the temple. Earthen floored and thick-walled, these homes were similar to other houses in the area. Within one of the temple's fireboxes, though, the researchers discovered a human skeleton in a cramped position. Why or how the body got there remains a mystery.

The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.