[x]

Clearly some anthropologists and historians just dismissed the stories of cannibalism, but it's also true that the Spaniards exaggerated the numbers, as did some more recent scholars (Marvin Harris, for example).

Aside from wanting to counter exaggerations, or just wanting to make the Aztecs look better than they were, I think scholars stress the "ritual" nature of cannibalism to indicate the the average downtrodden Mesoamerican Joe or Jane wasn't feasting on human flesh every night.

[marktwain]

but it’s also true that the Spaniards exaggerated the numbers,

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Why do you think so? First, there are not many contemporary accounts. Only about three that we know of, and Diaz is by far the most comprehensive.

I believe the average Mesoamerican peasant seldom ate meat. It may be one of the reasons for the widespread cannibalism.

As for warfare, they were pretty much at war all the time.

I suspect that you are correct about the motivation of the “scholars”

“I think scholars stress the “ritual” nature of cannibalism to indicate the the average downtrodden Mesoamerican Joe or Jane wasn’t feasting on human flesh every night.”

But why would that want to do that? It is to prop up the idea that “people are the same all over the world” a cornerstone of “progressive” internationalism after WWII.

Knock that “cornerstone” out, and much of the “progressive” edifice comes tumbling down.