PAQUIMÉ.- A chilling discovery from the ancient city of Paquimé, a sprawling archaeological site in Chihuahua, Mexico, is shedding new light on the lives – and deaths – of its inhabitants over 500 years ago. A groundbreaking paleogenomic study, a collaborative effort between Mexican and U.S. researchers, has analyzed the DNA of a young child, believed to have been sacrificed, revealing an astonishing degree of consanguinity between the child's parents.


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The findings, published in the esteemed journal Antiquity, edited by Cambridge University, paint a poignant picture of a society where elite families may have used even the ultimate sacrifice to solidify their social standing.

"This research is a testament to the power of interdisciplinary and cross-border collaboration," explains José Luis Punzo Díaz, a professor and researcher at Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and one of the article's co-authors. He highlights the incredible feat of extracting usable genomic data from human remains in Paquimé, a challenge previously considered insurmountable due to the intense regional heat that degrades ancient DNA.


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The story begins in the late 1950s, during excavations led by archaeologist Charles DiPeso. Within the "Casa del Pozo," or House of the Well, a residential complex near an underground area used for ceremonies, DiPeso's team unearthed the tiny skeleton of a child, estimated to be between two and five years old at the time of death. The remains, dubbed "Burial 23-8," were found beneath a substantial post that once supported a roof, accompanied by an offering of precious turquoise pieces.

Crucially, the child's skull bore clear signs of a fatal blow, likely inflicted intentionally. This grim detail led DiPeso to interpret the burial as a ritual sacrifice.

Fast forward to today, and the "Research Project on Ancient Populations in Northern and Western Mexico" has brought modern scientific techniques to bear on this ancient mystery. Led by a team of U.S. experts including Jakob Sedig, Steven LeBlanc, and David Reich from Harvard University, along with Meradeth Snow and Michael Searcy from the Universities of Montana and Brigham Young, and others, the project meticulously processed the skeletal material for DNA sequencing.

The results were astonishing. The analysis confirmed the authenticity of the ancient DNA, with the telltale signs of degradation expected from genuine ancient genetic material. The individual was identified as male, with genetic markers consistent with Native American populations. Further comparisons with DNA from hundreds of ancient and modern individuals across the Americas revealed the child's genetic lineage was similar to those who lived in northwestern Mexico and the southwestern U.S. over the past two millennia, particularly resembling modern O'odham (Pima) people.

But the most compelling revelation came from the "runs of homozygosity" (ROH) – stretches of DNA where an individual's maternal and paternal genetic contributions are identical, a strong indicator of shared ancestry between parents. Using a specialized analytical tool called hapROH, the researchers found an exceptionally high level of ROH in the Paquimé child.

"The levels of homozygosity we measured in the child's remains are among the highest in ancient America," the research team emphasized. This meant the child's parents shared a staggering 25 to 50 percent of their DNA. The most probable kinship? Second-degree relatives, such as half-siblings, uncle-niece, aunt-nephew, or even grandparent-grandchild.

This finding suggests a level of inbreeding rarely seen in ancient populations, prompting the researchers to formulate a powerful hypothesis. Combining the evidence – the high ROH, the unique and prestigious burial offering, and the clear signs of a sacrificial death – the team posits that the infant's burial was likely the "product of a ritual performed by an elite family to enhance their social position in Paquimé, during the site's heyday (1200-1450 AD)."

The study offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the social dynamics and ritual practices of the ancient Paquimé culture, reminding us that even the most advanced scientific techniques can illuminate the deeply human stories hidden within ancient remains. The sacrificed child of Paquimé, silent for centuries, now speaks volumes about a family's desperate act to maintain power and prestige in a world long past.


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