Human sacrifice – The Pull Of The Land

The April 9, 2025, CBS headline summarized it nicely: “Ancient altar found in Guatemala jungle apparently used for sacrifices, ‘especially of children’, archaeologists say”.

It is indeed a spectacular discovery of an aspect of an ancient Central American culture, and its religion, that was long gone before the arrival of Cortés in the 16th Century. The Mayan civilization has long been recognized as technologically advanced and, like the Aztec, is usually compared favorably against the “motley crew” of Spaniards who arrived after the former and in the midst of the latter.

This particular altar was from the Teotihuacán religion and culture. It was in a dwelling place in Tikal, the ancient center of the Mayas. The reason this is striking is that Teotihuacán is about 800 miles away, to the north, in what is now Mexico.

This tells us that both civilizations interacted with each other and that distances back then were not so formidable but were likely as little of a barrier as they are today.

In a similar vein, scholars who have studied, and continue to study, the Middle Ages tell us that travel and international commerce were extensive and, although the distances took time to traverse, little was thought about it. As is the case today.

Apparently the same can be said of the ancient peoples of North and Central America.

Therefore, we have the apparent anomaly of a house in Tikal, the center of the Mayas, with a sacrificial altar linked to Teotihuacán.

“Lorena Paiz, the archaeologist who led the discovery, said that the Teotihuacán altar [in Tikal] was believed to have been used for sacrifices, ‘especially of children…. The remains of three children not older than 4 years were found on three sides of the altar,’ Paiz told the Associated Press.”

Another archaeologist, Edwin Román, said that this “discovery reinforces the idea that Tikal was a cosmopolitan center at that time, a place where people visited from other cultures, affirming its importance as a center of cultural convergence.”

Yet another archaeologist, María Belén Méndez, gushed, “We see how the issue of sacrifice exists in both cultures. It was a practice; it’s not that they were violent, it was their way of connecting with the celestial bodies.”

The peak of both Mayan and Teotihuacán empires coincided between 100 and 600 AD, with the Mayan having thrived before and after the Teotihuacán, and both having disappeared by the time of the rise of other empires with the same unique way of “connecting with the celestial bodies”: the Aztec and the Inca.

Why is it that human sacrifice, including the ritual sacrifice of children, is so blithely minimized if not dismissed by our moderns? We no longer deny that the Aztecs had sacrificed thousands in the years preceding the arrival of the Spaniards. John Eidsmoe writes that in 1487 “Ahuitzotl, Montezuma’s immediate predecessor, dedicated the great temple to Huitzilopochtli, the sun-god, and sacrificed twenty thousand victims; they stood in four lines stretching between three and four miles long, and the ceremony lasted four days and was conducted by eight teams of priests.”

Sacrifices exceeded 50,000 each year.

Jon M. White, in Cortez and the Downfall of the Aztec Empire, writes, “When we visit or study photographs of Aztec temples, we should picture to ourselves those tall staircases as they frequently appeared: covered from top to bottom with a tacky, crimson sheath of blood.”

I’ll skip Aztec cannibalism and their several methods of exquisite, torturous, execution, including skinning alive, as was also done by the savage Caribs in Venezuela and the Caribbean islands.

Alfonso Caso, perhaps the premier scholar of the Aztec religion in the 20th Century, is a good representative of our modern sages when, after documenting what can only be objectively described as bizarre, heinous, and savage practices, he goes on to write about the Spanish conquest, “a sad event, for the Aztecs’ way of life was no longer to impose its views upon these peoples and their civilization.”

That is how many of our intelligentsia describe what we deplorables rightly see as a cult of savagery, debauchery, and death.

In other posts I’ve written about the voluminous dishonesty of Bartolomé de Las Casas and the deleterious impact he had not only in his lifetime but to this very day.

One of the bitter fruits of his propagandistic endeavors was the indigenismo (“Indianism”) that took hold, not only in Latin America, but also in our own continent. This is the cult which emphasizes Indian America over our European heritage, accompanied by bitter denunciation of the latter. And, of course, the propagators of this condemnation are very careful to blacken “Spanish” or “European” culture, not “Christian” culture, although their target is very obviously Christianity.

This poison has been running through the educational systems of the Americas for generations now. Its fruits are manifest and it is not a pretty sight.

Therefore, when evidence was discovered of high altitude sacrifices of children by the Incas, an avalanche of words poured forth from our betters explaining the lofty significance of such bloody rites, but no word was uttered in gratitude to our European Christian forebears for having put a stop to this vile death cult.

Instead, we have scholarly encomiums such as that by the aforementioned Alfonso Caso, lamenting that the elimination of such practices was “a sad event” or the assurances of archaeologist María Belén Méndez that Teotihuacanes ritually murdering 4-year olds does not mean “that they were violent”; it was their way of communicating with “celestial bodies”.

We may respect the archaeological digs of such people, but we must not honor their sorry lack of wisdom, which is hypocritically and intellectually dishonest. All they prove to us is that scholarship is by no means synonymous with wisdom. On the contrary, scholarship unmoored from fixed moral codes and divine laws only serves to inexorably return us to barbarism and tyranny.

I visited Teotihuacán in 1986. A resident guide assured me that the Teotihuacanes did not practice human sacrifice; that the stairs up and down the impressive pyramids, unlike those of the Aztecs, were for approaching the sun and moon, not for the spilling of blood. But now, with such practices more and more evident, such sages no longer seek to hide but to blatantly glory in them.

Ours is a wonderful and truly glorious Christian heritage. But it must be defended and it must be taught.

View of Teotihuacán’s sun and moon pyramids.

Atop the Sun Pyramid with friends and colleagues, Doug and Jerry, November, 1, 1986

Tikal, Guatemala

Ancient Teotihuacán altar found in a residence in Tikal. Humans, including children, were ritually sacrificed by both Teotihuacanes as well as Mayans.

“The frozen body of the 13-year-old-Maiden [sacrificed by the Incas] was entombed in a small chamber 1.5 metres underground near the summit of Volcán Llullaillaco in Argentina, together with the bodies of two 4 or 5-year-olds. With the blood still visible in their hearts and their lungs inflated, the three are probably the best-preserved mummies anywhere in the world….” — New Scientist, 29 July, 2013.

My friend, Mike Ashe, has visited and lived in Mexico and has a keen interest in that great country. I happily took him up on his offer to share some of his knowledge and observations, which we will find of interest and of help to our understanding not only of Mexico but of all of Latin America — RMB.

Human Migration into Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America) — Mike Ashe

Throughout human and animal history migration has always been the cornerstone of survival (following the food source). There are several theories positing one, two, or even three major Asian migrations during the ice age following game across the frozen Bering Sea.

Mexico was first populated more than 13,000 years ago by complex indigenous civilizations. The great Aztec empire was preceded by advanced civilizations including the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, and Maya

The first known society (Olmec), settled on the Gulf Coast near what is now Veracruz.

Peopling included The Olmecs (southern Mexico), the Aztec (Mexica), Toltec, and Chichimec in the Valley of Mexico. Historically the northern and Baja regions of Mexico have historically had low populations of indigenous people including the colorful Tarahumaras, Yaquis, and Mayos.

The Tarahumaras (those who walk well) originally inhabited much of current state of Chihuahua but retreated to the high Sierra Madre Occidental and the Barranca de Cobre (Copper Canyon) region. The Tarahumaras currently numbering 70,000, are renowned runners (without tiring) and still follow the traditional lifestyle, living in caves and cliff overhangs). Nominally Roman Catholic their mythology is pagan and Christian. As a side, the Copper Canyon is four times the size of the Grand Canyon.

Where did the country’s name come from?

Several historical theories believe that the name Mexico has its origin in the Nahuatl language spoken by the Aztec (Place of the Mexica) when Aztec nomadic tribes entered the Valley of Mexico.

Anahuac is another Nahuatl (close to the water) name referring to the altiplano lake in Tenochtitlan, formerly the capital of the Aztec empire, now Mexico City.

The Nahuatl language is dying out but is still spoken by many in the Veracruz area.

My mother would often say that the Mexican men in northern Mexico were larger than the men in the Altiplano and in the Maya region. Perhaps an answer by scientistic evidence that the northern region food source included a greater amount of animal protein from hunting and gathering, while the south and central regions lived a more sedentary life and at a greater rate of famine and disease. What is interesting is that the female stature did not vary at all between regions.

One common fact in ancient times is that life expectancy was low. The age of 15 was an important date since life expectancy ranged between 13 and 29 years of additional life with death coming between 28-44 on average. A subsistence life style along with the need for humans to build and move heavy burdens was very stressful on the bodies of the ancients. Mortality was very high; although I do not know how that compared to other parts of the world at that time, most likely was comparable.

With a low life expectancy there was the stress of maintaining and growing a population females had to be married before the age of 15 and 19 for males. Coupling was a challenge in areas of low population and not until agriculture improved, which led to towns and cities, did this condition change.

Rite of passage for girls (end of puberty and the initiation into young womanhood, called the Quinceañera, a Spanish culture/Roman Catholic tradition, was at 15 years of age). Its origin is not clear but the Aztecs and Mayans also had similar initiation ceremonies for girls.

The Aztec empire in the 1500’s was the most powerful Mesoamerican kingdom of all times. Civilizations like the Olmec, Maya, Aztec, and Inca all built pyramids to house their deities as well as burial chambers for their rulers. In Teotihuacan Mexico there are two large pyramids “The Pyramids of the Sun and Moon”. The Pyramid of the Sun is believed to have been constructed in 200AD and is one of the largest in Mesoamerica. Most travelers to Mexico believe that the great pyramids of Teotihuacan were built by the Aztecs; actually the builders most likely were the Teotihuacan. We used to climb both pyramids but understand it is now roped off to visitors.

In 1500 the Population of the Tenochtitlan (built on two islands on Lake Texcoco) was 200,000 comparable to the two largest cities in Europe: Naples and Paris. The total Aztec population in 1520 is estimated at 5-6 million.

When one jumps forward to modern times the countries’ Core Region occupied by the ancients still remains and includes; Mexico City, Puebla, Guadalajara, Veracruz, Leon, Puerto Vallarta, and Manzanillo

Living in Mexico City we would always end up in Teotihuacan (City of the Gods) and always learn something new there.

My brother-in-law, Chuy, and Cristy, my girlfriend at the time and later my wife, and I visited Cholula a Mayan Pyramid near Puebla. We were fortunate to be able to go inside some rather long/narrow tunnels where the archeologists/paleontologist were working. The National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City houses the greatest Mesoamerican artifacts in the world and represents the country’s commitment to honoring its ancestral past. To this date not much is known about this pyramid since excavation ended about the time of our visit there. One thing is for sure it is the largest pyramid in the world including the great pyramid of Giza in Egypt.

Today the Cholula pyramid at first glance looks like a natural hill. The Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de Remedios a major Roman Catholic pilgrimage destination, designated as a colonial monument, sits on top of it. It is doubtful that the pyramid will ever be excavated and restored due to the location of the Iglesia.

In about 2005 Cristy, our two oldest grandkids, and I visited her sister Toni in Merida, Yucatan. While in Merida we visited Chichen Itza built by the Mayans. El Castillo is the largest and most famous pyramid there. We climbed one of the pyramids but I do not remember which one. The site is by far the most interesting of all the ancient sites that we have visited. It includes the Great Ball Court, the Temple of the Warriors and the Sacred Cenote (not an attractive Cenote).

As a side, the Yucatan is full of Cenotes. They are deep-water sinkholes that are fed by rain and underground rivers. In ancient times the Mayan source of fresh water were the Cenotes. In modern times they have become a popular tourist destination for swimming, snorkeling, and diving. They are amazingly clear. Toni’s daughters are avid Cenotes explorers.

We cannot leave the ancient world without looking at the Aztecs’ polytheistic religion and its demands on its people, including human sacrifices to satisfy their hundreds of gods but primarily four main gods: 1) Tlaloc (god of rain) 2) Huitzilopochtli (god of war and sun 3) Quetzalcoatl (most famous Aztec god means feathered serpent) god of civilization and 4) Tezcatlipoca (god of destiny).

All four gods were the children of Ometecuhtli. Some of these gods like Tlaloc can be traced back to the Olmec and Mayan civilization. The child god Quetzalcoatl represents the good and his brother Tezcatlipoca not so good, as some scholars believe.

The gods were depicted in very colorful images and are displayed in the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. There were both male and female gods; each were believed to control all aspects of human life including mainly the weather, agriculture, fertility, and war.

Tlamacazqui were the Aztec priests; they were responsible to please the gods in ceremonies, offerings, and sacrifices. Many scholars believe that during troubled times sacrifices were performed to honor the gods. Priests would open the chest of the victim/volunteer and offer the beating heart to the gods. Men women and children were all sacrificed based on which gods needed to be pleased. Their skulls were displayed in the temples as trophies to the gods. Recent DNA testing shows that the majority of those sacrificed were enemy soldiers or slaves. There are some wild estimates of the number of sacrifices per year which cannot be confirmed. The Spanish accounts served as the basis for many estimates but most seem exaggerated to many scholars.

Next: The Conquest of Mexico