Pictures: Mass Sacrifice Found Near Aztec Temple

National Geographic ^ | August 2012 | A.R. Williams

[SunkenCiv]

Sixteen feet (five meters) below street level in Mexico City, archaeologists have found a jumble of 1,789 bones from children, teenagers, and adults along with the complete skeleton of a young woman.

The burial, dating to the 1480s, lies at the foot of the main temple in the sacred ceremonial precinct of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, founded by the Aztecs in 1325. The Aztecs dominated central Mexico until falling to Spanish conquistadores in 1521.

Although several burials with multiple remains have been uncovered previously in this precinct, this is the first that includes human bones from such a wide span of ages.

The discovery offers a rare opportunity to study Aztec funerary rituals and religious beliefs. Few burials from that culture have come to light, most likely because they lie beneath modern buildings.

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

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[Robert A Cook PE]

Fellow Indians.
As “peaceful” sacrifices.

[blueunicorn6]

Here I was thinking about how beautiful those space pictures are that you post, and then you come up with this, another photo from my family reunion.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Since it is a cross-section of ages, it will be found to be victims of the smallpox plague IMHO.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Was smallpox endemic to North America in the 1480’s? I thought it was imported by the evil white man beginning in 1492.

[cmj328]

All religions are equal.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Sounds like modern Mexico - cartels just carrying on the “old ways” with AK 47’s and machetes.

[BereanBrain]

IMHO, you are wrong that it’s from small pox.

The reason? It date is prior to european arrival. Also, the probably wouldn’t have been mass buried as a result of disease. It’s not practical

[aquila48]

I believe the correct term is “noble savages”

[headsonpikes]

Like all others, the Aztec culture concluded with a death cult.

It’s nature’s way...

[rusty schucklefurd]

re: “The burial, dating to the 1480s, lies at the foot of the main temple in the sacred ceremonial precinct of the Aztec capital . . .”

At the foot of the main temple? I’m guessing the bones are victims of their religious ceremonies, not smallpox. What little I have read of Aztec worship, buring the victims of their sacrifical worship next to the temple makes sense.

[achilles2000]

Human sacrifice and canibalism were integral parts of Aztec life. The victims were typically sacrificed in a temple at the top of the pyramid, and then the carcasses were thrown down the side of the pyramid. You only find parts of the bodies because parts of the victims ended up for sale as meat in the marketplace.

There was no smallpox in Aztec regions in 1480, or even much later. Aztecs sacrificed people of many different ages who were taken from tributary tribes. Those tribes didn’t enjoy being the “other white meat”, and so they enthusiastically helped Cortes end the Aztec reign of terror.

Most conservatives are afraid to violate the shibboleths of political correctness. Nevertheless, as hard as the Spaniards could be, they were pussycats compared to the Aztecs.

[blueunicorn6]

“Parts of the victims wound up as meat”......yep....my family reunion....if the sales guy offered you a free hand with every purchase, then that was my cousin Mike.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Oops, you’re right. It would have to be after 1521. My apologies. Retraction boldly printed...unlike NY Times and other liberal media outlets.

[SunkenCiv]

On the plaza in front of the big pyramid, the Aztecs had constructed something they called “the corncrib”, which was filled with stacked human skulls. Cortez et al were horrified, and at some point before they destroyed the whole complex, using measurements they estimated the number of skulls at a quarter million. These were remains of victims from years of various sacrifices, “games”, and what the Aztecs called “flower wars”, in which they’d attack some other tribe and keep attacking them until they submitted and started sending tribute — young males and females for various tortures and death.

[norton]

According to the, often tedious, timeline set out by Charles Mann in "1491", the pox hit SA around 1519 via the Caribbean. From that point onward he sees pox as the major factor in European expansion into the new world.

Oh, and mesoamerican/pre-colombian cultures were really vast and often quite advanced while Europeans didn't bathe too very much.

Please note the "often tedious" part but it's not a bad read if you bookmark a lot.

[achilles2000]

Thanks, but it isn’t all that big a deal..

[Robwin]

Sad story. Proof once again of how the indigenous population of the America, these noble savages, were corrupted by contact with Europeans.

[Flag_This]

"These were remains of victims from years of various sacrifices, “games”, and what the Aztecs called “flower wars”"

Yeah, but the Aztecs really, really, truly, honestly, sincerely, honestly, truly, really believed that human sacrifice was necessary... and sometimes you even had to flay the victim and wear his skin, but it was for a good cause.