Creepy Remains of Macaw, Baby Found in Mexico Cave

Archaeologists digging in a Mexican cave have made a creepy discovery. In the back of the cave they found two bone legs tied with a rope, the remains of a baby who was originally put to rest on a rabbit skin, two skulls and the naturally mummified head of a juvenile macaw.

The eerie finding was made in a cave near San Francisco de Borja, a town in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. Locals who owned the cave were leveling its floor when they stumbled upon the mummified bird and other archaeological material.

The villagers alerted the archaeologists of the National Institute of Anthropology and History who collected two human skulls and bones, parts of mummified human bodies, deer leather remains -- possibly from clothing or bags -- textile, baskets and one big sea shell.

"The locals told us the macaw was complete, unfortunately the rest of the body was taken away by the earth-moving machine and we could not find it," archaeologist Emiliano Gallaga Murrieta, director of the School of Anthropology and History Northern Mexico, told Discovery News.

"We assume the villagers hit upon a funerary context. It is possible that the macaw was part of the burial offering and is probable that was a pet of at least one of the two individuals," he added.

Since no ceramic from the Middle period of Paquimé (1.060 to 1.340 AD) was found, Gallaga believes the cave is a transition site between the obscure archaic and the early agriculture period, some 3,000 years ago.

Given the importance of the material collected, the archaeologists decided to further excavate the cave floor.

In a strip less than 3 feet wide and 150 feet long, they found the remains of bahareque house structures which were burnt and destroyed, several arrow points from the middle archaic period (about 1000 B.C.), fossilized human feces, ropes and remains of burnt beans, corn cobs, a complete pumpkin and some brown ceramic shards.

Most intriguingly, they found other two human burials.

"Placed against the cave all the way to the rock, there were two bone legs tied with a rope. We believe they belonged to a rather tall adult," Gallaga said.

Small pieces of human bones on a rabbit skin indicated that a small baby had also been buried there.

"The pelvis of the adult was very fragmented, so we need to wait until it is restored to establish whether the individual was a male or a female. It is also too early to tell whether the adult and baby were related," Gallaga said.

He speculates these remains date to 1,000 BC., about 3,000 years ago.

"It is possible the human remains were originally interred somewhere else and re-buried in the cave sometime later. However, we do not know why only half of the body was buried," Gallaga said.

Read more at Discovery News