It has been widely thought that the humans sacrificed at the Aztec empire’s Great Temple of Tenochtitlan were prisoners of war or people from conquered regions.
However, a new research has found that some people sacrificed by the Aztecs were actually locals.
The prevailing theory has said the people from conquered lands were shipped out to the Great Temple and sacrificed immediately. But an analysis of bone fragments has shown some of the human sacrifices had been living around the temple for a minimum of six years.
To reach their results, the scientists took specimens from the remains of six individuals discovered among the Great Temple’s sacrificial victims, removing material from skulls and teeth. The specimens were subjected to a strontium isotope evaluation to distinguish the individuals’ places of origin.
Regular aspect of Aztec life
The scientists said they were operating on the idea that in ancient societies, it was not very practical for people to travel from one area to the other, and that people generally ate regional food items. They found that men and women designated for sacrifice, but not among captured warriors, became “captives to be servants for the elite,” or individuals with some substantial political rank. People whose remains were analyzed lived between 1469 and 1521.
Also, young men seized in war were not the only people ritualistically killed. The victims also included women, the elderly, and children.
For many years, historians were skeptical of Spanish accounts of Aztec human-sacrifice rituals. They were frequently dismissed as stories designed to portray indigenous people as more savage than they actually were; a rationalizing of “civilized” colonial governance. This was a standard justification employed during the approximately five centuries of European colonialism around the planet.
However, archaeological research indicates human sacrifice was certainly a regular aspect of Aztec life. And the fervor with which it was employed can be tracked back to the political reforms of one man: Tlacaelel, who launched a campaign of religious codification in 1428. Tlacaelel also oversaw military development and territorial expansion of the empire.
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Feature Image: Thinkstock
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