Posted on 12/02/2004 5:58:20 PM PST by Betis70
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The discovery of a tomb filled with decapitated bodies suggests Mexico's 2,000 year-old "Pyramid of the Moon" may have been the site of horrifically gory sacrifices, archeologists said on Thursday.
The tomb at Teotihuacan, the first major city built in the Americas, whose origins are one of history's great mysteries, also held the bound carcasses of eagles, dogs and other animals.
"It is hard to believe that the ritual consisted of clean, symbolic performances -- it is most likely that the ceremony created a horrible scene of bloodshed with sacrificed people and animals," said Saburo Sugiyama, one of the scientists leading the ongoing dig.
"Whether the victims and animals were killed at the site or a nearby place, this foundation ritual must have been one of the most terrifying acts recorded archeologically in Mesoamerica."
Of the 12 human bodies found, 10 were decapitated and then tossed, rather than arranged, on one side of the burial site. The two other bodies were richly ornamented with beads and a necklace made of imitation human jaws.
(Excerpt) Read more at story.news.yahoo.com ...
If I'm not mistaken, the pyramid of the Sun (which I climbed in 1959) is much larger than the pyramid of the Moon.
They are both in Teotihuacan
Pyramids...Moon god (goddess) worshipers that cut off heads....sounds familiar
The Pyramid of the Sun is the largest and it is also at Teotihuacan. Chichen Itza's Mayan Pyramid is rather large and I don't know if it is larger than the Pyramid of the Moon.
Much of their the way they lived (and died) are brought to life in Gary Jennings historical novel "AZTEC". It's a good read!
Yes, you're right. Hub and I climbed them in 1971.
Teotehuacán dates back about 1500 years before the Aztecs. These pyramids are remains of the "Tolteca" culture, about which almost nothing is known, but who the Aztecs (who were a wandering tribe that only arrived in Central Mexico in the 13th century, AD) claimed as their ancestors... and as the first great civilization. The "Toltecs" (we have no idea what these people called themselves, so use the Aztec name for them -- "the builders") were thought to have been a highly peacable people (Aztec legends associate them with Quetzecoatl, a man turned God who rejected human sacrifice, preached the need for love and understanding -- and was born of a virgin mother! Sound familiar? It did to the first Spanish missionaries here too!). Archeologists always ASSUMED that Teotehuacáno sacrifices were small birds and butteflies. So, signs of human sacrifice are startling news.
Either that, or SOMEBODY really objected to the #$%& Wal-Mart store going up just outside the protected site.
Exactly. The story goes that when Cortez arrived there, he scraped layers of dried blood from the side of the pyramid with his sword. Very bloody.
Yikes; I stand corrected. I thought the muslims were the most murderous subhuman filth. But I'm wrong.
Seems though, the lowlife subhuman murderous muslim garbage do it out of pleasure via the pigshit koran, while the Aztecs... I'm not sure why they did it. Need to do some research, M-T-R.
LOL! Water is wet, film at 11.
Ummmmm, if I truly said what I think, I'd get suspended, again. So I'll just STFU. < smirk >
The International Red Cross is investigating AND the ACLU suggests these were homosexual hate crimes...
Don't drink the water!
the french did not stop beheading people until the 1970s.
paul gauguin, the post-impressionist artist, ran with a sketch book to a public beheading, anxious to capture the event on paper. i believe this was ~1890.
Hey, maybe they were criminals. Just a thought.
"Aztecs were not around 2000 years ago."
Worth repeating your post. The find isn't about the Aztecs.
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