【2010 Archives】

010 Archivesnumber of human remains might not be same as Paris' Catacombs, but a discovery deep below Mexico City is still very freaky, and reveals more about the practice of human sacrifice by the Aztecs.

A tower of more than 650 skulls, many of which are of women and children, were discovered by archaeologists near the site of Templo Mayor, an Aztec temple which is now Mexico City, according to Reuters.

It's believed the remains formed the Huey Tzompantli, an almighty rack of skulls designed to strike fear into Spanish conquistadors.

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The racks would typically consist of skulls of captured warriors, meaning the latest discovery raises questions on what was known about sacrifice among Aztecs.

"We were expecting just men, obviously young men, as warriors would be, and the thing about the women and children is that you'd think they wouldn't be going to war," Rodrigo Bolanos, a biological anthropologist, told the news outlet.

"Something is happening that we have no record of, and this is really new, a first in the Huey Tzompantli."

Human sacrifice was a religious practice among the Aztecs and other Mesoamerican cultures, a practice performed for the gods and regarded as a necessity to ensure humankind's prosperity.

Just as you learned in the history books, the Aztecs were pretty hardcore, but now we know that that applied whether you were a warrior or not.

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