Cueva del Maguey

Cueva del Maguey is a cliff dwelling site in the Sierra of Durango, Mexico, situated at 2,600 metres elevation in a remote pine forest. Dating to around 1425 AD, the site was home to the Xiximes people who built houses inside cave recesses. After four years of investigation, INAH archaeologist Jose Luis Punzo confirmed that approximately 80 percent of the four dozen bones recovered showed evidence of boiling and cutting with stone blades, confirming ritualistic cannibalism described in 17th-century Spanish ethnohistorical sources. The Xiximes believed consuming enemies' flesh and hanging cleaned bones on trees during planting season would ensure successful corn harvests.