Nearly 200 Human Spines Found Threaded Onto Posts

Nearly 200 human spines threaded onto reed posts were discovered in Peru, which researchers said revealed a strange way in which the dead were treated that hadn't been previously documented in the region.

CNN reports the recent study was conducted by an international team of researchers in the Chincha Valley, which is located on the southern coast of the South American country.

The researchers found the majority of the "veterbrae-on-posts" in "chullpas," which are large indigenous graves dating back hundreds of years, which they believe falls into the time when European colonizers were present in Peru.

Among the 192 spines on posts discovered, archaeologists confirmed that -- in almost every case -- the remains belonged to a single person, as noted in the study, which was published in the archaeology journal Antiquity on Tuesday (February 2).

Researchers believe the "vertebrae-on" posts were created at some point between 1450 and 1650 -- which is when Inca rule came to an end and European colonization grew in the region -- and included adults and juveniles living in the area at the time.

Jacob L. Bongers, the lead author of the study, described that time period of the Chincha Valley as "turbulent" as "epidemics and famines decimated local people" in the region.