SYNOPSIS
400 skeletons in a mass grave were found at Zultepec— an Aztec site, so Archaeologist Elizabeth Baquedano was brought in to analyze the grave. The Aztecs frequently used their enemies as human sacrifices in their religious practices and the skeletons showcased clear signs of dismemberment and frequent absence of certain bones. Many of the skeletons were found in shallow graves outside the temple where religious ceremonies would have taken place. The bones were dated to the early 1500’s. Analyzing the skulls, around 40 of the skulls did not belong to the local tribes but rather Europeans. Based on artifacts at the gravesite, the Europeans were likely to be Spaniards with horses. A historian was spoken to about the Spanish influence, stating that they were small groups of entrepreneurs. The Aztec prince believed that the Spaniards came to fulfill an ancient prophecy so the Aztecs gave the Spaniards small gifts that the Spanish leader, Cortez, wrote about. In the historical record, the Spaniards annihilated the Aztecs with little resistance since the prince refused to admit that the Spanish were not there to fulfill the prophecy however there were Spanish bodies in the mass grave indicating fallacy in the recorded history. Further analysis showed that ten skulls belonged to European females which indicated that they belonged to the second group of Spanish to arrive, the ones that came to arrest Cortez for leaving without permission so Cortez attacked them, taking several captives before journeying back to the Aztecs where the prince had died. Many local groups joined Cortez on the way back to fight against the Aztecs but slowed travel so he left the group behind and went ahead with a smaller group of soldiers, leaving the large abandoned group defenseless to the Aztecs to be captured, kept for months, and then sacrificed to their gods to keep the world in balance. Sacrifices were performed only by the priests who held down the sacrifice, tore out the heart and offered the heart to the sun. The heads were then punctured on each side so that they could be hung next to each other. Half of the skulls found in the grave marked in this fashion were determined to belong to Europeans. Another historian was approached to see if there is a record of European sacrifices by the Aztecs. A sketch of European men and horse heads on the head racks was found, linking the evidence to history. Once sacrificed, the bodies were dismembered and the long bones were given to warriors once stripped of flesh. Some of the bones were cremated and others chewed on by humans, proving the common theory that Aztecs partook in cannibalism. It took Cortez two years to conquer the Aztecs and help found Mexico City once back in the Spanish King’s favor. This proves that the Aztecs fought against the Spanish invaders and sometimes even won before their ultimate defeat.
ANALYSIS
This film compared to the other one showed Archaeology very dependent upon historical texts and knowledge of the locals to deduce the reality of the bones, seemingly looking for clues and patterns that were believed to exist rather than viewing the bones impartially and coming to conclusions from what they deduce. In the other film, the archaeologists analyzed the bones and formulated hypotheses on their findings and knowledge of the local populations then compared their findings with history to see how they fit together. It would have been nice to have an answer to their posed question of when European diseases impacted the Aztecs and local tribes. Using molecular archaeology could be a tool in this discovery. (Kelly and Thomas page 214) This film was focused on the Europeans found present but there was still information to be learned from the natives that were also sacrificed. Perhaps to some extent the order of the skeletons being scarified and placed in the grave may have also been determined. In Kelly and Thomas, it mentions that finding exotics in a grave could indicate status (page 239) so I also wonder if the bones taken from the sacrifices to honor their warriors would be present in their grave sites. Honestly, this film felt more incomplete than the first one and I wasn’t really sure what they were trying to prove until the end when the film stated that the Aztecs had indeed fought back against the Spanish invaders because evidence of the Spanish being sacrificed and eaten by the Aztecs was found. In the first film, I didn’t really have anything to add once complete but this one just left me with so many questions and it’s hard to say how strong the deductions of the skeletons were because of the major text usage in the situation.
SOURCES
1. Kelly, Robert and Thomas, David. Archaeology. Cengage Learning, 2016.
No comments:
Post a Comment