Submitted by coldrum --- Another article on the human sacrifice found at Tula.
Mexico has a wealth of pre-Hispanic archaeological sites, and new discoveries are constantly being made -- sometimes by accident. In 1978, workers in downtown Mexico City were digging down in order to install some cable, and they accidentally discovered the Aztec temple called the Templo Mayor, which has since been excavated and a museum has been put on the site.
In the spring of 2007 another accidental discovery, at a construction site in central Mexico, revealed a gruesome example of human child sacrifice.
The tomb was found near Tula, about 50 miles north of Mexico City. Tula was the capital of the Toltec culture, which thrived from the AD 900s to 1100s. The Aztecs looked up to the Toltecs as their civilizers.
This new discovery at Tula is of a tomb containing two dozen sacrificed children. They appear to have been sacrificed between AD 950 and 1150, during the Toltec Golden Age. Apparently all but one of them were between the ages of five and 15.
Why do archaeologists think they were sacrificed? For one thing, the ritualistic manner in which the skeletons are placed together indicates sacrifice, plus cut marks on their bones are consistent with it. And within the tomb an idol of Tlaloc, worshipped as a rain god, was found, which could provide motive for the sacrifice.
As well, an interesting detail is that a turquoise artifact was recovered from the tomb. Turquoise was a mineral found in what is now the U.S. Southwest, so this artifact may have been from there, having traveled the long distance from the Southwest to Tula on the trade routes.
Human sacrifice was widespread in the Mesoamerican civilizations. ....
Some contemporary Mexicans are reticent to recognize that human sacrifice existed among the cultures of Mesoamerica. As a result, a far-fetched explanation has been cooked up to explain it away.
I’ve been told by some Mexicans that this or that Mesoamerican culture did not practice human sacrifice, and what they were actually engaged in was advanced medical techniques that the Spaniards misunderstood.
For more, including comments on human sacrifice and its place in multiple world cultures, see this link.
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