Summary Scientists say it’s unlikely any complete skeletons will be found.
(Web Desk) - A horrifying ancient ceremonial altar has been dug up with ominous human skulls dotted around it.
Experts believe the four heads were decapitated to serve as a grisly human offering around 1,000 years ago.
Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in Mexico uncovered the shock discovery along the route of a passenger train.
The ceremonial stone altar is known as momoztli, which was used by the Toltec civilisation between 950–1150 CE for rituals, including human sacrifice.
It measures about one metre on each side, features a base of dressed stone and likely has at least three low, step-less sections.
Four skulls are carefully dotted around the base of the altar.
Scientists say it’s unlikely any complete skeletons will be found.
That’s because ritual sacrifices usually only offered certain body parts.
But there were long bones, which experts suspect are femurs, as well as incomplete skeletons.
Objects including black bowls, obsidian fragments, and blades were found too.
These were probably used to carry out the decapitations.
“In this case, although metals were already being worked in the Postclassic period, we know that here decapitations were still done with obsidian or flint knives, and they left cut marks on the bones,” explained archaeologist Heredia Guillén.
Remains of mystery walls were also uncovered in the dig.
“We assume that these were either rooms or part of an elite context, or for groups of higher rank, remains of palaces that may have existed on the site,” he added.
“We know that at the outskirts of Tula there were neighborhoods of the upper and middle classes, and much further away, those of the common people.”
