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Mexican tomb reveals gruesome human sacrifice
New Scientist ^ | December 4, 2004 | Will Knight

Posted on 12/03/2004 4:14:00 PM PST by snarks_when_bored

Mexican tomb reveals gruesome human sacrifice

18:46 03 December 04

NewScientist.com news service
 

Evidence of a grisly human sacrifice and a complex military infrastructure has emerged from an excavation of the ruins of a pyramid in the 2000-year-old city of Teotihuacan in Mexico.

A vault containing 12 bodies, ten of which had been decapitated, along with the remains of pumas, wolves and eagles were discovered at the city's central structure, the Pyramid of the Moon.

"What we have found in this excavation suggests that a certain kind of mortuary ritual took place inside the tomb before it was filled in," says Saburo Sugiyama of the University of Japan, in Aichi, who coordinated the archaeological dig with Ruben Cabrera of Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History.

"It is hard to believe that the ritual consisted of clean symbolic performances," Sugiyama adds. "It is most likely that the ceremony created a horrible scene of bloodshed with sacrificed people and animals."


Birthplace of gods

Teotihuacan is located 25 miles north of Mexico City and predates the Aztec civilisation by around 700 years. The city’s name, meaning “City of the Gods”, was given by the Aztecs, who believed their gods to have been born there.

The tomb is the fifth chamber to be discovered within the pyramid - and is buried within the fifth of seven construction layers added onto the original pyramid as the city expanded. Shell pendants, blades and the points of projectile weapons such as arrows and spears were also found alongside the bodies.

Sugiyama suggests that the weaponry and remains of powerful animals linked with the headless bodies are "highly symbolic objects [which] suggest that the government wanted to symbolise expanding sacred political power and perhaps the importance of military institutions with the new monument".


Peaceful people

Mike Smith at State University of New York in Albany, US, says the find is particularly significant because relatively little is known about high-level political organisation in Teotihuacan. It also firmly contradicts earlier theories that Mexican civilisations were relatively peaceful and theocratic during this period.

"This is the second significant find of sacrifice at Teotihuacan," Smith told New Scientist. "Nobody can say that this was just a one off."

But another artefact discovered in the mausoleum presents a puzzle. The mosaic of a human figure - possibly a Mayan - was found at the centre of several large knives. It has artistic features not seen elsewhere in Mesoamerica and has political relevance, as some of the knives included the form of a feathered serpent - known to be associated with political authority.

Another tomb containing the remains of four men was found within the same layer of the pyramid in 2002. Isotopic analysis suggests two the men buried there were Teotihuacans while two were foreigners.

 

Will Knight

 



TOPICS: History; Miscellaneous; Religion; Society
KEYWORDS: 2000yearoldhorror; ancientsavagery; archaeology; bloodrituals; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; history; humansacrifice
Ah, yes, the good old days among the simple, indigenous folks of the Third World—so much better than living in the modern, civilized world where one must endure the continued existence of the United States and other Western democracies.

Of course, Zarqawi and his ilk would have fit right in.

1 posted on 12/03/2004 4:14:00 PM PST by snarks_when_bored
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To: SunkenCiv

Ping.


2 posted on 12/03/2004 4:14:37 PM PST by snarks_when_bored
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To: snarks_when_bored

What the Raza-Nazis, mechistas and reconquistas want to return Atzlan to.


3 posted on 12/03/2004 4:16:00 PM PST by StoneColdGOP (She calls me *Mini-Merc*)
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To: StoneColdGOP

One would like to think otherwise; but ...


4 posted on 12/03/2004 4:18:40 PM PST by snarks_when_bored
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To: snarks_when_bored

*All-Cultures-Are-Equal* alert


5 posted on 12/03/2004 4:23:31 PM PST by My2Cents ("Well...there you go again.")
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To: My2Cents
*All-Cultures-Are-Equal* alert

Right. Even now, I sense that certain feminist members of NOW are preparing to emigrate to muslim countries, secure in the knowledge that the practices of clitorectomy and abuse of women are just 'different-but-equally-valid' expressions of the basic goodness of all people.

6 posted on 12/03/2004 4:34:28 PM PST by snarks_when_bored
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To: snarks_when_bored

Would you like to make a wager about that? LOL


7 posted on 12/03/2004 4:52:53 PM PST by My2Cents ("Well...there you go again.")
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To: My2Cents

Uh, I'm a little short of cash right now...you understand, right? (laugh)


8 posted on 12/03/2004 4:58:07 PM PST by snarks_when_bored
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To: snarks_when_bored
Ah, yes, the good old days among the simple, indigenous folks of the Third World.

Ah, dude, did you hear about these events.


9 posted on 12/03/2004 5:03:43 PM PST by BJungNan (Stop Spam - Do NOT buy from junk email.)
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To: BJungNan

Yep. I was referring only to the nostalgia for the simple savage that some people for some reason feel.


10 posted on 12/03/2004 5:09:22 PM PST by snarks_when_bored
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To: snarks_when_bored

Early American Islam.


11 posted on 12/03/2004 5:42:46 PM PST by SampleMan ("Yes I am drunk, very drunk. But you madam are ugly, and tomorrow morning I shall be sober." WSC)
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To: BJungNan

Wasn't it the Aztecs that would sacrifice hundreds of people each day to make sure the sun came up the next morning?


12 posted on 12/03/2004 6:11:15 PM PST by Brainhose (THINK OF THE KITTENS!)
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To: snarks_when_bored

Has anyone asked Bill Clinton how sexy he find's these human sacrifices? We all know that he has a proclivity for early teen South American mummy girls.


13 posted on 12/03/2004 6:13:45 PM PST by Brainhose (THINK OF THE KITTENS!)
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Headless Bodies Found at Mysterious Mexico Pyramid
Yahoo Reuters ^ | 12/2/2004 | Brian Winter
Posted on 12/02/2004 5:58:20 PM PST by Betis70
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1293208/posts


14 posted on 12/03/2004 9:55:40 PM PST by SunkenCiv ("All I have seen teaches me trust the Creator for all I have not seen." -- Emerson)
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Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest
-- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

15 posted on 12/03/2004 9:56:07 PM PST by SunkenCiv ("All I have seen teaches me trust the Creator for all I have not seen." -- Emerson)
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To: snarks_when_bored

That was just the way they probably handled their illegal aliens at that time.


16 posted on 12/03/2004 9:57:53 PM PST by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: Brainhose
Wasn't it the Aztecs that would sacrifice hundreds of people each day to make sure the sun came up the next morning?

Who cares who it was, it worked didn't it! Kind of like global warming. Who cares if it is true or not, it keeps the money flowing in for all the "save the Earth" groups.

And do you think if we sacraficed hundreds of global warming faithful each day that global warming would eventually go away?

17 posted on 12/03/2004 11:38:39 PM PST by BJungNan (Stop Spam - Do NOT buy from junk email.)
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Just updating the GGG information, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

18 posted on 05/02/2006 8:42:39 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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