A number of alien-like skulls have been discovered in a 1,000 year old cemetery in Mexico. The finding initially stunned the researchers, however, upon closer inspection the skulls were found to be human skulls warped into strange, alien-like shapes. Scientists said the practise of deforming skulls of children as they grew was common in Central America, and these findings suggest the tradition spread farther north than had been thought.
A unique cemetery
The cemetery was discovered by residents of the small Mexican village of Onavas in 1999 as they were building an irrigation canal. It is the first pre-Hispanic cemetery found in the northern Mexican state of Sonora. The site, referred to as El Cementerio, contained the remains of 25 human burials. Thirteen of them had deformed skulls, which were elongate and pointy at the back, and five had mutilated teeth.
Some individuals wore jewelry such as bracelets, earrings, ear spools, and pendants made from sea shells found in the Gulf of California. One burial contained a turtle placed carefully on the abdomen. However, the archaeologists also found burials that lacked the usual offerings and grave goods. For archaeologists, the most interesting finding was the discovery of new types of modified skulls. This had never been documented in any cultural groups in Sonora.
Mutilations and deformities are like signs of social institutions
Skull deformities in Mesoamerican cultures were used to distinguish a group of people in society and in mysterious rituals, while tooth mutilation in other cultures,” said Ms. Garcia Moreno. Cultures like Nayarit are considered rites of passage into adolescence. This is confirmed through the results of studies of the Sonora cemetery, where 5 other bodies with mutilated teeth belonged to people over 12 years old.
However, according to her, “In the present case, one cannot recognize different social characteristics because the graves appear to have the same characteristics. And we cannot determine why some people wore jewelry and others did not, or why, among the 25 skeletons, only one was female.
Of the 25 burials, 17 were children between 5 months and 16 years of age. The high number of children seen at the site could suggest inept cranial deformation killed them due to excessive force against the skull. The children had no signs of disease that caused their deaths.
Although cranial deformation and dental mutilation were common features among the pre-Hispanic populations of Mesoamerica and western Mexico, scientists had not seen either practice in Sonora or the American Southwest, which share a common pre-Hispanic culture. The researchers suggest the people at El Cementerio had been influenced by recent migrants from the south.
While the strange shape of these skulls led many to associate them with the image of “aliens,” scientific evidence has confirmed that they are the result of the cultural practice of head binding. This discovery provides valuable information about the customs and funeral rites of the Mesoamerican people before the Columbus era.
However, it is important to note that this is just one of many hypotheses about the origin of these skulls. Further research may provide more information about the practice of head binding and its cultural significance in this community.
