Sacrifice of the Social Outcasts: Two Cases of Klippel–Feil Syndrome at Midnight Terror Cave, Belize

Abstract

The archaeological record indicates that the ancient lowland Maya sacrificed a wide variety of people in caves for various reasons. Ritual theorists have proposed that individuals chosen for sacrifice cross‐culturally are typically outsiders either geographically or socially with slaves, prisoners of war, children (typically orphaned), sorcerers and the physically handicapped. Prior to this study, all but the physically handicapped were documented as sacrificial victims at cave sites. The site of Midnight Terror Cave in the Cayo District of Belize contains at least 118 individuals and is now one of the largest sacrificial assemblages ever discovered in the Maya Lowlands. This assemblage supports previous notions of who the ancient Maya chose for human sacrifice and documents the first cases of physically handicapped sacrifices. Two individuals with probable Klippel–Feil syndrome, a physically debilitating pathological condition with many associated abnormalities that would have made certain aspects of social life difficult, were documented in the assemblage. Ultimately, these results suggest that ritual theory predicts all the types of social outcasts chosen for sacrifice Maya caves. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Monsters and the case of L. Joseph: André Feil's thesis on the origin of the Klippel-Feil syndrome and a social transformation of medicine

“…The author interpreted these findings as supporting the hypothesis that physically handicapped persons were used for sacrificial purposes in Mayan culture. 39 This example further highlights the implications that congenital malformations influenced sociocultural traditions, and it reveals how society viewed persons with severe malformations in different cultures and eras. However, persons with mild Klippel-Feil anomaly and without pronounced phenotypical changes have been found to be present in earlier ages.…”

Ancient DNA Clarifies Osteological Analyses of Commingled Remains from Midnight Terror Cave, Belize

“…Recently, Kieffer () reported two sets of fused vertebrae (VI‐02B‐118 and VIII‐13‐367) from MTC that she identified as possibly suffering from Klippel–Feil syndrome (KFS) and suggests that the Maya may have chosen the two individuals for sacrifice owing to resulting deformities. Kieffer () contends that these cases may reflect a larger social phenomenon in which the victims of ancient Maya human sacrifice were selected on the basis of being considered ‘social outcasts’.…”

“…Kieffer's () position was almost immediately questioned. After examining both vertebrae, Prout () contends that one specimen (VI‐02B‐118) was misidentified and instead asserts that the bone displays an abnormal growth development of the C‐2 and C‐3 vertebrae.…”

“…Before presenting our paleogenetic data, it should be noted that the context of this find as laid out in ‘Sacrifice of the Social Outcasts’ is more problematic than acknowledged. Lot VI‐02 was reported as having a minimum number of individuals (MNI) of two, an adult and a juvenile, so it would, at least theoretically, be possible to assign all of the bones to one individual or the other based on size and development (Kieffer ). In reality, however, it is well recognised that a MNI of one does not mean that all the bones belong to a single individual.…”

“…Similarly, Prout's () analysis of the juvenile remains from Lot VI‐02B documented four individuals. In addition to the juvenile mentioned by Kieffer (), there is a child of approximately 2–4 years of age, a subadult 6–10 years of age and another subadult 10–14 years of age.…”