9. The Sacred Ridge massacre near Durango, Colorado
In 2010 archaeologists announced the discovery of a North American genocide which occurred circa 800 BCE among the Anasazi Puebloan Indians. Based on the skeletal remains of humans and animals unearthed at the site, and including the detection of human blood on two headed axes found among them, archaeologists determined that the massacre was a planned event, caused by inter-tribal tensions as a result of a traumatic event, possibly a drought or famine brought on by drought. Evidence presented by the remains indicated the creation of killing pits, in which victims were killed and disemboweled, including children.
The number of people killed in the massacre has not been determined, but the more than 14,000 human skeletal fragments carry evidence of torture before death and of post-mortem mutilation, with limbs amputated and possibly carried away from the site as trophies. The village where the massacre took place contained at least twenty structures, which revealed that the village was burned following the mass killings, and that they took place in an event which was over relatively quickly. The speed of the massacre is evidence that it was a planned event, and carried out in a few days. Analysis of teeth from the remains indicated that the diet of the massacred people was different from other known tribes in the region. They were likely of a different ethnicity than the people who carried out the massacre, which was likely a contributing cause to the mass murder.