New DNA evidence shows that elite leaders at Chaco Canyon weren’t just members of the same class — they were members of the same extended family, a “dynasty” that traced its ancestry to a single woman.
Read MoreTag: mass graves
New Discoveries From Cahokia’s ‘Beaded Burial’ May Rewrite Story of Ancient American City
The people buried in one of America’s most famous prehistoric graves are not who we thought they were, researchers say.
Read More
Severed Heads, Skull Bowls Found in California Graves Were Tributes, Not War Trophies, Study Finds
A 3,000 year-old village discovered in central California has been found to contain an unusual set of burials — with more than a half dozen individuals buried without their heads,…
Read More
Mass Grave Found in California Reveals Prehistoric Violence Against ‘Outsiders’
An ancient mass grave, uncovered during the construction of a shopping mall outside San Francisco, contains the bodies of seven men who appear to have been victims of “mass homicide”…
Read More
Victims of Human Sacrifice at Cahokia Were Locals, Not ‘Foreign’ Captives, Study Finds
The practice of human sacrifice in America’s largest prehistoric city was more subtle and complex than experts once thought, new research suggests. Recent studies into the remains of sacrificial victims…
Read More
Evidence of Hobbling, Torture Discovered at Ancient Massacre Site in Colorado
The site of a gruesome massacre some 1,200 years ago in southwestern Colorado is yielding new evidence of the severity, and the grisly intensity, of the violence that took place there….
Read More
Ceremonial ‘Axis’ Road Discovered in Heart of Ancient City of Cahokia
After more than 85 years of study and speculation, recent digs have confirmed the presence of a ceremonial road running through the heart of Cahokia, the largest prehistoric city north…
Read More
Sacrificial and Common Graves Alike Reveal Diversity in Ancient City of Cahokia
Whether they died from natural causes or as sacrificial offerings, the residents of America’s largest prehistoric city were surprisingly diverse, with at least a third of the population having come…
Read More
Earliest Evidence of Gigantism-Like Disease Found in 3,800-Year-Old California Skeleton
The remains of a man buried 3,800 years ago in a richly decorated California grave bear some unusual but unmistakable features — a protruding brow, a lantern jaw, thick leg…
Read More
Mass Grave of ‘Prodigal Sons’ in California Poses Prehistoric Mystery
New research has turned up some perplexing clues in a prehistoric mystery: the fate of three men found in a mass grave in California, their bodies riddled with arrow points…
Read More
Grisly Mass Grave in Utah Cave Is Evidence of ‘Prehistoric Warfare,’ Study Says
Nearly a hundred skeletons buried in a cave in southeast Utah offer grisly evidence that ancient Americans waged war on each other as much as 2,000 years ago, according to…
Read MoreInfamous Mass Grave of Young Women in Ancient City of Cahokia Also Holds Men: Study
The scene, discovered by archaeologists in Illinois more than 40 years ago, depicts one of the most extravagant acts of violence ever documented in ancient America: A thousand-year-old pit found…
Read More
