[mercy]

If all the American Indian tribes came from the same Bering Sea crossers how come the ones in S. America became human sacrificers and the N. American Indians did not? Or am I just assumeing this?

[quidnunc]

mercy wrote: If all the American Indian tribes came from the same Bering Sea crossers how come the ones in S. America became human sacrificers and the N. American Indians did not? Or am I just assumeing this?

I think I read that some Indians in Florida were cannibals, and there is evidence of cannibalism in the ruins of the Anasazi Indians.

However it is thought that the Anasazi society disintigrated because they were infiltrated by Aztecs.

[tallhappy]

If all the American Indian tribes came from the same Bering Sea crossers how come the ones in S. America became human sacrificers and the N. American Indians did not?

A lot of assumptions on your part.

Yet, I would suggest -- if there is any validity to your theory -- the drug use (psychoactive plant use) contributed a lot.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

If all the American Indian tribes came from the same Bering Sea crossers how come the ones in S. America became human sacrificers and the N. American Indians did not? Or am I just assumeing this?

I think you're just assuming it. Read James Fraser's "The Golden Bough." He's got quite a few examples of cannibalism among the North American Indians. The one that sticks in my mind concerns a missionary whose skin was slit open and pieces of fat inserted inside the slits, to keep him well-basted during the cooking process. He managed to escape, and lived for a number of days on the pieces of fat.

[Dave Elias]

Well you could say that about many peoples. For instance what made Germans turn into Nazis, while their cousins in the UK did not.

We all have the capability to do horrendous things, it is simply a result of what contrains such behaviour in any given society. No genetic involved, just culture.

[Technical Editor]

If what I heard recently is correct, there's a newer theory that humans populated this hemisphere not from north to south, but from south to north.

[piasa]

They didn't come from the same crossers... there were different waves of widely separated migration from different Asian peoples and there is some reason to believe, based on similarity of tool types in eastern north America and Europe, that some early stone age Europeans may have arrived on this continent and blended in as well. There are some fairly strong physical differences and linguistic between American prehistoric groups of people as a result of having different ancestoral stock.

[Richard Kimball]

You're assuming. The Karankawas of the Texas coast were cannibals, as were several of the Caribbean tribes. Robert Redford's movie Jeremiah Johnson cleaned up the reputation of the man. He was, during his day, known as Liver Eating Johnson. He hunted Crow Indians, killed them, and ate their livers. Many of the tribes did the same. FWIW, when I was in Haiti, back around 96, I was documenting missionary work for the Wells of Salvation ministry. I was cautioned not to photograph in the open markets anyone who was selling meat. Some, I have no idea how much, of the meat was human, and the vendors would attack and kill people photographing them, as they feared the photographer was gathering evidence. They cautioned me not to even appear to be interested in any red meat being sold.

The Aztecs are of particular interest because, compared to most other tribes, which were essentially stone age before interaction with Europeans, they had developed a pretty advanced civilization, but were absolutely merciless. There's an interesting reference page here. The stone age tribes saw human flesh as meat, and ate it. The Aztecs placed it in a religious context.

Of course, many pagan religions teach that eating portions of a vanquished enemy is a method of obtaining their courage. It's also a sign of ultimate dominance, and embeds fear in the surviving foes.

[shibumi]

"If all the American Indian tribes came from the same Bering Sea crossers how come the ones in S. America became human sacrificers and the N. American Indians did not?"



BBQ - it's a summertime thing.

[rwfromkansas]

Cultures develop differently in different locations.

[tkathy]

There was cannabilism among native Americans, but this info has been politically incorrect for some time.

[alrea]

how come the ones in S. America became human sacrificers and the N. American Indians did not

records indicate at least one tribe in North Carolina practiced cannibalism

[Kenton]

If all the American Indian tribes came from the same Bering Sea crossers how come the ones in S. America became human sacrificers and the N. American Indians did not? Or am I just assumeing this?

I suppose it's a matter of what motivations you subscribe to the "sacrifice". North American Indians had a long history of burning captured enemies alive in a ritual fashion, and there are also a number of historical references to ritual cannibalism among northern tribes; the Abenaki come specifically to mind, as documented by the early French Jesuits who ministered to the Indians in colonial Canada in the 1600s.