LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA—Analysis of the remains of more than 100 sacrifice victims who were buried in Belize’s Midnight Terror Cave during the Maya Classic Period (A.D. 250 to 925) has detected blue fibers clinging to dental plaque in the mouths of two of the dead, according to a Live Science report. Archaeologist Amy Chan said that a similar “Maya blue” pigment has been found at other sites, where it may have been used in ceremonies to paint the bodies of sacrificial victims. Blue fibers have also been recovered from an agave-based alcoholic beverage found in burials at Mexico’s ancient city of Teotihuacan. The blue fibers found in the dental calculus may have been left behind by blue gags left in the mouths of sacrificial victims over an extended period of time, Chan suggests, although the rate at which plaque forms and hardens into dental calculus is not known. Further study is required to understand where the blue fibers originated, Chan and her colleagues concluded. Read the original scholarly article about this research in International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. To read about an ancient Maya city on the border between Belize and Guatemala, go to “Off the Grid: El Pilar, Belize.”
