Mexico mass grave may hold last Aztec resistance fighters

Daily Mail ^ | 11 Feb 2009 | Daily Mail

[BGHater]

Archaeologists have found a mass grave in Mexico that may hold the skeletal remains of the Aztecs who fought conquistador Hernan Cortes.

The unusual burial was found in a ruined pyramid in downtown Mexico City.

It holds the carefully arrayed skeletons of at least 49 adult Indians who were buried in the remains of a pyramid razed by the Spaniards during the 1521 conquest of the Aztec capital.

The pyramid complex, in the city's Tlatelolco square, was the site of the last Indian resistance to the Spaniards during the months-long battle for the city.

Archaeologist Salvador Guilliem, the leader of the excavation for Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History, said the Indians might have been killed during Cortes' war or during one of the uprisings that continued after the conquest.

Mr Guilliem said many burials have been found at the site with the remains of Indians who died during epidemics that swept the Aztec capital in the years after the conquest and killed off much of the Indian population.

But those burials were mostly hurried, haphazard affairs in which remains were jumbled together in pits regardless of age or gender.

The latest reported burial is different. The dead had many of the characteristics of warriors: All but four were young men, most were tall and several showed broken bones that had mended.

A mural in Tiaxcala, Mexico shows the Aztecs greeting Hernan Cortes. The conquistadors went on to take the land by force

The 49 bodies were all found lying face up with their arms crossed over their chests

[BGHater]

conquest ping.

[SeminoleSoldier]

Chances are they were killed by Cortez’s Indian allies. Cortez marched on Mexico City with a few hundred European soldiers but over ten thousand Indians. The whole raiding their neighbors for human sacrifices thing didn’t make the Aztecs very popular.

[SampleMan]

Archaeologists have found a mass grave in Mexico that may hold the skeletal remains of the Aztecs who fought conquistador Hernan Cortes.

Probably killed by some of the 40,000 local indians who had lived as feudal slaves of the Aztecs and were happy to join Cortes' cause.

[SampleMan]

Oops, I should post faster. I essentially repeated your post.

[Leisler]

"...feudal slaves of the Aztec"

Feudal, Federal, slave, permanent tax sheeple.

Not much changes.

Maybe some day someone will explore Federal Reserve Temple ruins.

[SunkenCiv]

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[BenLurkin]

bttt

[blam]

Historical Review: Megadrought And Megadeath In 16th Century Mexico (Hemorrhagic Fever)

"The epidemic of cocoliztli from 1545 to 1548 killed an estimated 5 million to 15 million people, or up to 80% of the native population of Mexico (Figure 1). In absolute and relative terms the 1545 epidemic was one of the worst demographic catastrophes in human history, approaching even the Black Death of bubonic plague, which killed approximately 25 million in western Europe from 1347 to 1351 or about 50% of the regional population.

"The cocoliztli epidemic from 1576 to 1578 cocoliztli epidemic killed an additional 2 to 2.5 million people, or about 50% of the remaining native population.

[Fred Nerks]

...The part of the ancient city Aztec city of Tlatelolco that is excavated is only a small part of Tlatelolco. Much of the ancient city is under the modern buildings that surround the plaza.

source

[Jan Hus]

G-D bless La Malinche and Don Cortez.

[Towed_Jumper]

Merely the results of 16th Century gang violence.

[Ciexyz]

The woman in the painting, is that the traitor Malinche who interpreted for the conquistadors?

[Little Bill]

The Aztecs were not nice people. I think that Prescott mentions that the had an affinity for People meat Tacos.