There is universal agreement that some

Mesoamerican Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. Withi ...

people practiced

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein ...

and cannibalism, but there is no scholarly consensus as to its extent. At one extreme, anthropologist

Marvin Harris Marvin Harris (August 18, 1927 – October 25, 2001) was an American anthropologist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York City. A prolific writer, he was highly influential in the development of cultural materialism and environmental determinism. ...

, author of '' Cannibals and Kings'', has suggested that the flesh of the victims was a part of an aristocratic diet as a reward, since the

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...

diet was lacking in

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...

s. According to Harris, the Aztec economy would not support feeding slaves (the captured in war) and the columns of prisoners were "marching meat". Bernard R. Ortiz de Montellano has proposed that Aztec cannibalism coincided with times of harvest and should be thought of as more of a Thanksgiving. Montellano rejects the theories of Harner and

Harris Harris may refer to: Places Canada * Harris, Ontario * Northland Pyrite Mine (also known as Harris Mine) * Harris, Saskatchewan * Rural Municipality of Harris No. 316, Saskatchewan Scotland * Harris, Outer Hebrides (sometimes called the Isle of ...

saying that with evidence of so many tributes and intensive chinampa agriculture, the Aztecs did not need any other food sources. At the other extreme, William Arens doubts whether there was ever any systematic cannibalism.

Aztec cannibalism

The Mexica of the Aztec period are perhaps the most widely studied of the ancient Mesoamerican peoples. While most pre-Columbian historians believe that ritual cannibalism took place in the context of human sacrifices, they do not support Harris' thesis that human flesh was ever a significant portion of the Aztec diet.

Michael D. Coe Michael Douglas Coe (May 14, 1929 – September 25, 2019) was an American archaeologist, anthropologist, epigrapher, and author. He is known for his research on pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, particularly the Maya, and was among the foremost Mayan ...

states that while "it is incontrovertible that some of these victims ended up by being eaten ritually �� the practice was more like a form of communion than a cannibal feast". Documentation of Aztec cannibalism mainly dates from the period after the

Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, also known as the Conquest of Mexico or the Spanish-Aztec War (1519–21), was one of the primary events in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. There are multiple 16th-century narratives of the eve ...

(1519-1521): In ''

The Man-Eating Myth ''The Man-Eating Myth: Anthropology and Anthropophagy'' is an influential anthropological study of socially sanctioned cultural cannibalism across the world, which casts a critical perspective on the existence of such practices. It was authored ...

'', Arens writes, "The gradual transformation of what little evidence is available for Aztec cannibalism is also an indication of the continual need to legitimize the

Conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...

". The following claims could have been exaggerated. * Hernán Cortés wrote in one of his letters that a Spaniard saw an Indian...eating a piece of flesh taken from the body of an Indian who had been killed. Kodeks tudela 21

* The ''Historia general'' (compiled 1540-1585) by

Bernardino de Sahagún Bernardino de Sahagún, OFM (; – 5 February 1590) was a Franciscan friar, missionary priest and pioneering ethnographer who participated in the Catholic evangelization of colonial New Spain (now Mexico). Born in Sahagún, Spain, in 1499, ...

(the first Mesoamerican ethnographer, according to

Miguel León-Portilla Miguel León-Portilla (22 February 1926 – 1 October 2019) was a Mexican anthropologist and historian, specializing in Aztec culture and literature of the pre-Columbian and colonial eras. Many of his works were translated to English and he was ...

) contains an illustration of an Aztec being cooked by an unknown tribe. This was reported as one of the dangers that Aztec traders faced. * In his book ''Relación'' (1582),

Juan Bautista de Pomar Juan Bautista (de) Pomar (c. 1535 – after 1601) was a mestizo descendant of the rulers of prehispanic Texcoco, a historian and writer on prehispanic Aztec history. He is the author of two major works. His ''Relación de Texcoco'' was written ...

(c. 1535 – 1590) states that after the sacrifice the body of the victim was given to the warrior responsible for the capture. He would boil the body and cut it to pieces to be offered as gifts to important people in exchange for presents and slaves. It was rarely eaten, since they considered it of no value. Bernal Díaz reports that some of these parts of human flesh made their way to the Tlatelolco market near Tenochtitlan. * In 2012 The National Institute for Anthropology and History (INAH) reported that they have discovered around 60 skeletons under subway lines in Mexico City, 50 children, and 10 adults, dating back 500 years. The skeletons appear to have cut marks on the bones that indicated human sacrifice, but does not indicate that cannibalism had occurred.

Bernal Díaz's account

Bernal Díaz's '' The Conquest of New Spain'' (written by 1568, published 1632) contains several accounts of cannibalism among the people the conquistadors encountered during their warring expedition to Tenochtitlan. * About the city of Cholula, Díaz wrote of his shock at seeing young men in cages ready to be sacrificed and eaten. * In the same work Diaz mentions that the Cholulan and Aztec warriors were so confident of victory against the conquistadors in an upcoming battle the following day, that "...they wished to kill us and eat our flesh, and had already prepared the pots with salt and peppers and tomatoes". * About the Quetzalcoatl temple of

Tenochtitlan , ; es, Tenochtitlan also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, ; es, México-Tenochtitlan was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear. The date 13 March 1325 was ...

Díaz wrote that inside there were large pots, where human flesh of sacrificed Natives was boiled and cooked to feed the priests. * About the Mesoamerican towns in general Díaz wrote that some of the indigenous people he saw were: Díaz's testimony is corroborated by other Spanish historians who wrote about the conquest. In ''

History of Tlaxcala ''History of Tlaxcala'' (Spanish: ''Historia de Tlaxcala'') is an alphabetic text in Spanish with illustrations written by and under the supervision of Diego Muñoz Camargo in the years leading up to 1585. Muñoz Camargo's work is divided into t ...

'' (written by 1585),

Diego Muñoz Camargo Diego Muñoz Camargo (c. 1529 – 1599) was the author of ''History of Tlaxcala'', an illustrated codex that highlights the religious, cultural, and military history of the Tlaxcalan people. Life Diego Muñoz Camargo was born in Spanish colonia ...

(c. 1529 – 1599) states that:

Controversy

Accounts of the Aztec Empire as a "Cannibal Kingdom", Marvin Harris's expression, have been commonplace from Bernal Díaz to Harris,

William H. Prescott William Hickling Prescott (May 4, 1796 – January 28, 1859) was an American historian and Hispanist, who is widely recognized by historiographers to have been the first American scientific historian. Despite having serious visual impairm ...

and

Michael Harner Michael James Harner (April 27, 1929 – February 3, 2018) was an anthropologist, educator and author. His 1980 book, ''The Way of the Shaman: a Guide to Power and Healing,''Harner, Michael (1980) ''The Way of the Shaman''. San Francisco: Harper ...

. Harner has accused his colleagues, especially those in Mexico, of downplaying the evidence of Aztec cannibalism. Ortiz de Montellano presents evidence that the Aztec diet was balanced and that the dietary contribution of cannibalism would not have been very effective as a reward.

Cannibalism among the Xiximes

As recently as 2008, Mexico's National Institute of Archaeology and History (INAH) derided as a "myth" historical accounts by Jesuit missionaries reporting ritual cannibalism among the

Xiximes The Xixime were an indigenous people who inhabited a portion of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains in the present day states of Durango and Sinaloa, Mexico. The Xixime are noted for their reported practice of cannibalism and resistance to Spa ...

people of northern Mexico. But in 2011, archaeologist José Luis Punzo, director of INAH, reported evidence confirming that the Xiximes did indeed practice cannibalism.

Notes

References