Aztecs Cooked, Skinned, Ate Humans (Barbequed long pig)

Discovery News ^ | January 25, 2005 | Jennifer Viegas

[quidnunc]

New finds from an archaeological site near Mexico City support certain written and pictorial evidence concerning Aztec human sacrifice that historians previously doubted because the accounts seemed too exaggerated to be true.

The discovery adds to the growing collection of evidence supporting human sacrifice and cannibalism among the founders of the Mexican empire. It also suggests that researchers might now be able to verify some 16th century Spanish accounts on the subject.

The Spanish and the Aztecs documented at least four observations of cannibalism in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés (1485-1547), whose men conquered the Aztecs in 1519, wrote in a letter that his soldiers had captured an Aztec man who had roasted a baby at breakfast time.

While it probably would be impossible to validate that specific account, the Aztec site at Ecatepec, north of Mexico City, has just yielded the remains of eight children whom the Aztecs likely sacrificed.

Archaeologist Nadia Velez Saldana discovered the remains. She told the Associated Press, "The sacrifice involved burning or partially burning victims. We found a burial pit with the skeletal remains of four children who were partially burned, and the remains of four other children that were completely carbonized."

-snip-

[blam]

The Carib Indian word for roasted human arm is BBQ. The origin of the word.

[redgolum]

Cortes burned his ships to motivate his men, and the mission in the beginning was more about gold than souls. When the Spaniards saw just what the Aztecs were, their goals changed a bit.

The tactics used by the Spanish were brutal and devastating, but remember a few HUNDRED men conquered an empire. Not because of disease or technology alone, but because most of the population wanted a change.

[LisaFab]

But, but...how can this be? What about the art?

[Inwoodian]

Cortes walks in on two Aztecs eating another man. One starts at the head and works down. The other starts at the feet and works up. Cortes says to the first Aztec, "How're you doin'"? First Aztec says, "I'm havin' a ball." The second Aztec looks up and says,"You're eatin' too fast".

[skinkinthegrass]

Oh yech! That's one book I'm never going to read.

What are WE dicussing here? ..after all this happened (1519-2005=) 484+ years ago...a different age/culture...We as Americans, have a different culture.

..in the meantime, pass the honey glazed BBQ Baby-Backed PORK ribs, *20 min. later* I'll have another serving, please...THANK YOU. :^)

[evets]

[skinkinthegrass]

Archaeologists discover the Aztecs were notoriously bad cooks, their empire having never discovered the meat thermometer.

HA!HA! LOL!..No, Aztecs version of Bobby Flay? :^))

[Nabber]

Horses became extinct in North American more than just a "few centuries" before their reintroduction by the Spaniards (Coronado lost quite a few to the Indians in his exploration in the Southwest). Horses became extinct 10,000 years before, and they were not big enough to ride; probably why the Indians of that time ate 'em instead of rode 'em.

[blam]

"Supposedly, at least according to my grandmother, some of her Delaware Indian relatives had no white ancestry but did have relatively light complexion and blue or grey eyes. There are certainly large differences in the physical appearance of North American tribes, the Aztecas of Mexico, and natives of the Amazon River basin."

The Ojibwa Indians have the highest incident of the X ('European' ) gene of all Indians sampled in the Americas.

Also, see my post #80 on this thread.

[blam]

You may want to read this thread:

European DNA Found In 7-8,000 Year Old Skeleton In Florida (Windover)

And this also:

Bye, Bye Beringia (8,000 Year Old Site In Florida)

[olde north church]

Actually, a lot of the pre-Columbian Indian tribes had a belief in a light skinned bearded God, Virucocha(?), if I'm not mistaken who came on a ship/from the ocean. It was one of those serendipitous events that allowed a small army to conquer most of a continent.
There is also reason to believe (from the apologists, of course) cannibalism was the result of lack of other food.
I always liked the term "long pig" for humans. If refers to how the fat layer on human is similiar to the fat layer on a pig: fat, then meat, not marbled like beef.
The first time I heard the term I couldn't stop laughing. How rude!

[redgolum]

You are right about the light skinned god. He also had red hair, wore a breast plate, and was supposed to return around the same time Cortes showed up. Cortes used that to his advantage, much to the chagrin of some of the priests he brought along.

[RFEngineer]

"Hey honey, let's go out for some Mexican...."

[F16Fighter]

Anyone yet blaming Christopher Columbus for having given the Aztecs the original recipes?

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

Yeah, there are many interesting accounts of this. However, when I once pointed out something to a H.S. teacher (in my youth) from William Prescott's "The History of the Conquest of Mexico," his only comment was that the conquistadores were ignorant, so we should discard what they had to say about the conquest.

Sounds ignorantly arrogant to me.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

This is all, getting so complicated....and they had pyramids too...( Mayans I believe )

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***What are WE dicussing here? ..after all this happened (1519-2005=) 484+ years ago...a different age/culture...We as Americans, have a different culture.***

Jeffery Dahmer might tend to disagree.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

"Hey honey, let's go out for some Mexican...."


EATING RAUOL. The Movie!

[WestVirginiaRebel]

"Soylent Junior is people!"

[skinkinthegrass]

Jeffery Dahmer might tend to disagree.

HA!HA!..LOL! ...and the Donner Party, "Liver-Eating" Johnson, people of "the Siege of Leningrad" and the '71 Argentinia Soccer Team, too. ..as I eat my Evening Meal, BEEF STEW. :^)