Human skulls intentionally wrapped into unusual, alien-like shapes have been exhumed from the grounds of a 1,000-year-old Mexican cemetery, Fox News reported Friday.

Of the 25 burials unearthed, 17 of them were children between 5 months and 16-years-old. The large number of children found at the site could indicate that inept cranial skull pressure is what ultimately led to their deaths, as they showed no signs of disease.

Scientists said deforming the skulls of children was a common practice used in Central America, but the respective discovery suggests that the tradition extended further throughout the north than had originally been thought.

Cristina Garcia Moreno, an archeologist at Arizona State University, spoke to LiveScience about what seemed to be an unorthodox practice.

"Cranial deformation has been used by different societies in the world as a ritual practice, or to distinguish between social groups," she said. "The reason why these individuals at El Cementerio deformed their skulls is still unknown. The common comment I've read from people that see the pictures of cranial deformation has been that they think that those people were 'aliens.' "

"I could say that as a joke, but the interesting thing is that some do think so."

The cemetery was originally found by residents of a small Mexican village called Onavas in 1999 while they were in the midst of constructing an irrigation canal. It's the first pre-Hispanic cemetery located in Sonora, a northern Mexican state.

Moreno, along with several researchers, feel that the individuals residing at El Cementario during that time period must've been influenced by migrants from the south.

"The most important implication would be to extend the northern boundary of the Mesoamerican influence," she added.

While cranial deformation and dental mutation were common methods used by the pre-Hispanic populations of Mesoamerica and western Mexico, scientists hadn't noticed either tradition occurring in the American Southwest or Sonora, which were known to share common past cultures.