[Aztlan] ME Human Sacrifice

Mon Jan 4 15:57:09 CST 2010

An interesting thing to note re: interment practices, use of skeletal remains, etc in ancient historic and historic mesoamerican cultures. Please note what I relate comes from a yet to be published ethnographic study and ongoing bioarchaeological research.  For now I will only relate the data that has been shared with me.  If you wish to contact the ethnographer or the bioarchaeologist, I will pass along your inquiries.

In an on-going study in a Yucatec village the ethnographer has noted: 

Corpses are buried temporarily.  Not everyone gets or stays buried. The descendants disinter the deceased for cleaning the bones after a couple years. If the deceased was a respected and beloved member of the family or community they become venerated ancestors. Not everyone becomes a venerated ancestor, but those selected for veneration get de-fleshed and bundled in shrines.  The defleshed bones of the "not-so-venerated" frequently get thrown in the jungle for consumption by wildlife or to disintegrate into the soils.  While it has been done in this village since anyone can remember the Mex Federales don't like that so much...so they don't talk about it openly.

Archaeologically we do notice that even highly-regarded elite interments frequently decay to powder in several ancient funerary contexts.  The preservation of skeletal remains in Mesoamerica is highly variable.

While I agree there should be more skeletal remains correlating to the numbers of sacrificed in the Spanish reports to the crown, perhaps the problem is more complex?  Maybe we're just assuming the Mesoamerican cultures processed their deceased in ways similar to Westerners when perhaps/more than likely they didn't and for different reasons...?  I have also noted in the ethnographic literature that there are regionally different treatments of the deceased in 19th and 20th c indigenous communities. Has anoyone else taken a hard look in comparing at ancient, historic, and contemporary funerary practices?

And really, if there isn't a particularly strong bond between the dispatcher and the dispatched, does the act qualify for being called 'sacrifice' or is it public ritual theater in disposing of one's rivals?

Karrie Porter Brace, La Pelirroja Peligrosa 
While the rest of the species is descended from apes, redheads are descended from cats.  --Mark Twain
Redheads are children of the moon, thwarted by the sun and addicted to...sugar. --Tom Robbins

> From: mayavase at verizon.net
> To: climber1157_99 at msn.com
> Date: Mon, 4 Jan 2010 16:20:49 -0500
> CC: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
> Subject: Re: [Aztlan] Discovery Channel - Blood For the Gods
> 
> >From an Eye-witness---
> I remember that in the plaza where some of their oratories stood, there
> where piles of human skulls so regularly arranged that one could count them,
> and I estimated them at more than a hundred thousand. I repeat again that
> there were more than a hundred thousand of them. And in another part of the
> plaza there were so many piles of dead men's thigh bones that one could not
> count them. (and on and on)
> Bernal Diaz del Castillo, The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico page 119. 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org [mailto:aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org]
> On Behalf Of Alfred Climber
> Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 2:05 PM
> To: Gordon Whittaker
> Cc: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
> Subject: Re: [Aztlan] Discovery Channel - Blood For the Gods
> 
> Show me the Mass graves.. Just think of 400 years of sacrifices. There is
> one heck of a cemetery somewhere. Just think of the smell it must have put
> off.. Why no records of thousands of buzzards on the corn fields? All that
> blood on corn and squash and bean plant roots. Would that not cause the
> crops to go bad? 
> Just a thought.
> Maybe I got something wrong. Did not the people who wrote of the Aztec's
> capital city say it was clean? The cleanest city they have ever seen? They
> thought they were dreaming? They must have had one heck of a cleanup
> service.. Fast too.!! The logistics just don't match. 1000 people in one
> day? I want to hire their cleanup staff.. Or at least know how they did it.
> It is amazing they did not have a major revolt. I would not go willingly...
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: Gordon Whittaker<mailto:gwhitta at gwdg.de> 
> To: Blaze Tzitzimime<mailto:ocelotonatiuh at msn.com> 
> Cc: aztlan at lists.famsi.org<mailto:aztlan at lists.famsi.org> 
> Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 3:02 AM
> Subject: Re: [Aztlan] Discovery Channel - Blood For the Gods
> 
> 
> Yep, sure did! The question is, how many at any one time?
> 
> Best,
> Gordon
> 
> "Blaze Tzitzimime" wrote:
> >
> > Jan 03, 9:00 pm EST
> > Discovery Channel
> > Blood For the Gods
> >
> > Did Aztecs really cut out the hearts of thousands of victims?
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Gordon Whittaker
> Professor
> Linguistische Anthropologie und Altamerikanistik
> Seminar fuer Romanische Philologie
> Universitaet Goettingen
> Humboldtallee 19
> 37073 Goettingen
> Germany
> tel./fax (priv.): ++49-5594-89333
> tel. (office): ++49-551-394188
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
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