cultivation, gold and silver work, pottery, metallurgy and weaving. Some of the social structures that later (around the 12th century) formed the base of the Inca Empire may be traced back to these previous periods. Archaeological findings Archaeologists led by Gabriel Prieto revealed the largest mass child sacrifice with more than 140 children skeleton and 200 Llamas dating to the Chimú culture after he was informed about some children had found bones in a dune nearby Prieto’s fieldwork in 2011. According to the researchers' notes in the study, there was cut marks on the sterna, or breastbones some of the children and the llamas. Children’s faces were smeared with a red pigment during the ceremony before their chests had been cut open, most likely to remove their hearts.Remains showed that these kids came from different regions and when the children and llamas were sacrificed, the area was drenched with water. “We have to remember that the Chimú had a very different world view than Westerners today. They also had very different concepts about death and the role each person plays in the cosmos, perhaps the victims went willingly as messengers to their gods, or perhaps Chimú society believed this was the only way to save more people from destruction” said anthropologists Ryan Williams. Gallery Ancient Cultures in Peruvian History Time Line References See also Cultural periods of Peru Inca Empire Amazonas before the Inca Empire Andean civilizations Former countries in South America History of Peru