HUARMEY (Peru): The Pacific Ocean had always been the fishermen’s lifeblood — until the day they knelt blindfolded before its blue waters and the knife pierced their hearts, making them offerings to Ni, the god of the sea.

In the biggest find of human sacrifices in South America to date, archaeologists have uncovered the remains of 200 fishermen savagely stabbed on a beach in central Peru 650 years ago.

“This is the first time that human sacrifices on this scale have been documented,” said Hector Walde, chief archaeologist for the Punta Lobos project, holding a discoloured skull recovered from a beach some 275 kms north of Lima.

Archaeologists say the fishermen were knifed through the collarbone — straight into the heart — in a giant human sacrifice ceremony by members of the powerful Chimu people as a sign of gratitude to their revered sea god Ni after they conquered the fishermen’s fertile seaside valley in AD 1350.

The remains of the 107 intact bodies were found lying on their stomachs, their heads toward the water and their hands tied behind their backs.

Unwrapping a leg bone with cracked, blackened flesh at the end, Walde said the discovery was important because it confirmed a long-standing theory, based on testimonies and etchings on stone temples or ceramics, that some cultures in this archaeology-rich nation practiced large ritual killings.

“It’s impressive to think that even though 600 years have gone by, the pain and anguish these people went through when they died can be seen in the cadavers and even the outlines they left in the sand,” he said.

Many of the fishermen, believed to be between 18 and 35 years old, were found arched backward as if in their death throes. Despite the passage of time, they were found in varying states of decay — some just bones and rags, others complete with muscle tissue, hair, even fingernails.

The fishermen were blindfolded with the turban they used to control their flowing black hair and wore only a loincloth. Their bodies, left unburied by the Chimu and later covered by wind-driven sand, were not accompanied by the kind of ornate offerings often found with high-caste or sacred burials.

The remains of the fishermen sacrificed are now stored in a tiny warehouse of a museum in the nearby town of Casma until Antamina builds an on-site museum near the beach.

Archaeologists are also hoping to take DNA samples from the hair, skin and teeth of the fishermen to determine, for example, if the inhabitants of today’s Huarmey — a quiet fishing town of around 24,000 people — are descended from those sacrificed hundreds of years ago.

Using that information, they hope to be able to identify hereditary diseases or physical traits passed on from generation to generation.—Reuters