[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.

[x]

I am no expert on any of this. There's plenty of evidence for human sacrifice. The question is just how much cannibalism there was. I don't know. If Spaniards saw prisoners and sacrifices they might assume there was widespread eating of the sacrifices without actually witnessing it.

When you read a particularly shocking account, one possibility is that the experience was so overpowering and the actual knowledge so limited that the details are exaggerated. That's especially true if a shocking story advances one's own interest. The other possibility, of course, is that the details are true and what happened was just that shocking.

[piasa]

No, it’s because there isn’t enough physical evidence to support the idea that it was a regular component of the everyday diet. And Diaz’s account is not necessarily any more accurate than that of modern day eye witnesses.

In a dig you will encounter the remains of meals in the hearths and in garbage pits. Analyzing these remains you can get a rough idea of the everyday diet of a household in a layer of soil, and by the percentages of species’ bones found get an idea of what the most common meal was, within reason. Large bones like human bones or deer would be cracked to obtain marrow, so these would be brought home where other less choice parts might not be. By the postholes or foundation stones and other items inside, you can determine if a house was a peasant’s or a nobleman’s.

The Aztecs left records and among these as I recall were illustrations of a typical marketplace with all the foods and other goods depicted, like peppers, fish, feathers, turkeys, etc. There weren’t rows of human hams in the scene...

http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodmaya.html