Largest mass child sacrifice

The largest mass child sacrifice is 140 children, carried out during the Chimú Empire at the formerly known Huanchaquito-Las Llamas site near Trujillo, Peru, in around 1450.

According to National Geographic, a research team first discovered the burial site in 2011, making headlines when remains of 42 children and 76 young llamas skeletal remains were uncovered during an emergency dig. Several years later, the total now sits at 140 children and 200 young llamas. The burial site was radiocarbon dated to between 1400 and 1450. The ages of the children were between 5 to 14 years old. The llamas were less than 18 months old. The remains of a man and two women were also discovered.

Many investigators suggest the burial site occurred due to a ritual killing in a single event, one that is unprecedented, surpassing any mass sacrifices conducted by the Aztec, Maya and Inca civilisation.

At the height of the Chimú Empire, they controlled a coastal distance of more than 600 miles (965 km) along the Pacific coast and interior valleys area in now modern Peru-Ecuador border to Lima.