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The Mayans used to sacrifice people by pulling their still-beating hearts out of their chests.
Human sacrifice in Maya culture was a ritual offering of nourishment to the gods. Blood from any living creature was considered a potent source of nourishment, so by extension, the sacrifice of a human life was the ultimate offering there was. Generally, it was high-status prisoners of war that were sacrificed, and a number of different methods were employed. The most common being decapitation and heart extraction. Other forms of sacrifice practiced included ritual shooting with arrows, hurling sacrifices into a deep sinkhole, entombing the sacrifice alive (to accompany a noble burial), and tying the person into a ball for a ritual reenactment of the Mesoamerican ballgame and disembowelment. Yikes!
