Aztechi e Antropofagia

Un articolo sul Cannibalismo (in questo caso rituale) di cui ho già pubblicato, in passato. In questa ricerca esso è interpretato (per me, con troppa sicurezza) come un mezzo 'per assorbire la potenza divina attraverso l'ingestione dei corpi delle vittime, considerate l'incarnazione degli dei".

Io penso che gli eventi si siano susseguiti in modo diverso: credo che la dieta degli Aztechi (insufficiente, perché scarsissima in proteine, salvo che nelle più fortunate zone costiere) li avesse costretti all'antropofagia (praticata sugli sconfitti). L'assorbimento di proteine altamente nutrienti, poi, aveva un effetto benefico che poteva essere ben riconosciuto e che poteva certamente considerarsi anche 'divino'.

Analysis of human bones 

shows Aztecs practiced 

ritual cannibalism 

Fragments of human bones that show cuts and prolonged exposure to fire, have allowed investigators to conclude that during the Post Classic period (900 through 1521 AD) rulers, priests and some high ranking warriors practiced cannibalism as a religious rite. 

Fragments of human bones have cut marks and prolonged exposure to fire [Credit: INAH] 

The findings are a result of recent investigations by archaeologist Gabino Lopez Arenas on craniums, tibia, humerus and jaws located among the offerings of the Great Temple and in the surroundings of the historical center. 
Lopez Arenas explained that the osteological evidence found in the Sacred Grounds of Tenochtitlan, allows the conclusion that individuals were decapitated and dismembered, the majority of which still possessed bland tissue. 

Cannibalism''was intended to absorb the divine force that held the body of the sacrificed' [Credit: INAH] 

“We observed that immediately after the victims were immolated their flesh was removed, this is confirmed because a great quantity of bones had cuts and alterations that were done while the bone was fresh and recently exposed to fire”, he assured. The specialist added that the practice of cannibalism had the purpose of “absorbing the divine strength that remained in the victim’s bodies: To Mexicas, the human victims were the incarnation of the gods they represented, and by eating their flesh they could share their divinity”. 

To the Aztecs, the victims were the incarnation of the gods [Credit: INAH] 

The archaeologist pointed out that the flesh of those sacrificed was ingested in specific ceremonies by individuals of a high social status, but it wasn’t a common meal in their diet. Lopez Arenas quoted the famous Spanish writer Francisco Cervantes Salazar, whom added that the arms and legs in the cannibalistic ritual were the most appreciated parts and the most frequently eaten, but the hands and the feet exclusively belonged to the priests and rulers. “To give someone these parts was a distinction, since these were considered the most delicious. The blood was never consumed because it was exclusively for the gods”. 

Eating human flesh represented a kind of communion with divinity [Credit: INAH] 

The investigator also added a quote from Diego Duran to his investigation; he wrote that within the Mexica militia one of the privileges of warriors who attained the rank of tequihua was to eat human meat in certain ceremonies. Lopez Arenas mentioned that these rituals were made in certain dates. For example, during the parties made celebrating the first month of the Mexica calendar (atlacahualo), several children were sacrificed to honor the gods of water or rain, and after they were killed they were cooked and eaten. 

Human offerings were given to the priests and eaten in certain ceremonies [Credit: INAH] 

Meanwhile, during the tlacaxipehualizli month, those sacrificed in the temple of the god Huitzilopochtli were devoured in the house of the warrior that captured them. 


Source: INAH via Art Daily [January 17, 2014]

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Una verità sui Maya

Maya dismembered their enemies

Researchers of the Department of Anthropology of the Americas at the University of Bonn have discovered a mass grave in an artificial cave in the historical Maya city of Uxul (Mexico). 

Scientists from the University of Bonn discovered a mass grave in the Classic Maya city Uxul (Mexico). Some of the skulls featured tooth incrustations with jade -- a popular body adornment in the Classic Maya society which due to the material's scarcity was reserved to persons of high social status. For these incrustations, stone tools were employed to drill small cavities in the tooth. These cavities were thereupon filled with fitting pieces of jade [Credit: (c) Nicolaus Seefeld/Uni Bonn]

Marks on the bones indicate that the individuals buried in the cave were decapitated and dismembered around 1,400 years ago. The scientists assume that the victims were either prisoners of war or nobles from Uxul itself.
For the last five years, archaeologists of the department of Anthropology of the Americas of the University of Bonn have been excavating in the historical Maya city of Uxul in Campeche (Mexico) with the aim of researching the origins and the collapse of regional states in the Maya lowlands. 
The project headed by Prof. Dr. Nikolai Grube and Dr. Kai Delvendahl from the University of Bonn, as well as Dr. Antonio Benavides from the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History, which is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) has now made a sensational find: they have uncovered the skeletons of 24 people in an approximately 32 square meter artificial cave that had formerly been used as a water reservoir.
"Aside from the large number of interred individuals, it already became apparent during the excavation that the skeletons were no longer in their original anatomical articulation," says the archaeologist Nicolaus Seefeld, who studied the sophisticated water supply system of Uxul for his doctoral thesis and discovered the mass grave. 
All of the skulls were lying scattered around the interior of the cave, in no relation to the rest of the bodies. Even the majority of the lower jaws were separated from the heads. In contrast, detailed examination determined that the limbs of the legs and hands were in some cases completely preserved. 
"This observation excluded the possibility that this mass grave was a so-called secondary burial, in which the bones of the deceased are placed at a new location," says Nicolaus Seefeld.
Indications of violent death and dismemberment
According to the conclusions reached by the scientists, the spatial pattern of the bones indicates that the corpses of the 24 people had been decapitated and dismembered. Signs of violent death could be proven for the majority. 

Scientists from the University of Bonn discover the remains of dismembered human bodies in an artificial cave in the Classic Maya city Uxul in Mexico. The image shows the artificial cave's interior during the excavations with several skulls, lower jaws and ribs [Credit: (c) Nicolaus Seefeld/Uni Bonn]

"The observed hatchet marks on the cervical vertebra are a clear indication of decapitation," Seefeld reports. 
The forehead of another skull shows an unhealed skull fracture, probably caused by a blow from a cudgel. In addition, numerous skulls show signs of cutting with sharp objects, which might originate from stone hatchets.
Due to their being covered by clay, the bones are so well-preserved that it was possible to distinguish the age and sex of 15 of the 24 individuals. These include 13 men and two women who were aged from 18 to 42 at the time of their death. 
Analyses of teeth and bones showed that several of the deceased suffered from malnutrition and had lost several teeth to tooth decay.
Some of the dead had tooth inserts of jade. The scientists interpret this as a sign of high social status. However, the archaeologists of the University of Bonn don't yet know whether they are prisoners of war from another Maya city that were sacrificed in Uxul or nobles from Uxul itself. 
Only with the help of isotope analysis will it be possible to clarify whether the dead were members of the local population or originate from another region of the lowlands. 
"However, the discovery of the mass grave proves that the dismemberment of prisoners of war and opponents often represented in Maya art was in fact practiced," says Prof. Dr. Nikolai Grube.

Source: Universität Bonn [September 10, 2013]