-i^ztec-cannibal theory disclaimed
— 0 to(
tve tli e
—hour
THE BATTALION
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 1977
Page 7
Texas A&M University an-
ropologists are casting some skep-
pontit) cal eyes toward a New York col-
TheiJi ague’s claim that the Aztecs of
—tamoj Mexico ate the flesh of sacrificial
iti rei ictims in order to get “needed pro-
:in.”
SWenee ‘ He would be very hard pressed
prove this archaeologically
archaeologist Dr. Harry
bafer said of the claim made by Dr.
—uss at®, lichael Hamer, chairman of an-
—iferm®,
=d.
itacbel
■^rojectoi
iropology at the new School for
ocial Research.
Other A&M colleagues said
lamer might have a “plausible”
preseit leory, but that he would have to
•mbined
rom ijii;
ome up with new evidence.
In a copyrighted. New York
imes News Service story, Harner
er’sptdj i quoted as saying the Aztecs were
he most cannibalistic culture
nown and that sacrificial victims
lecame regular food items, His
- owledji
= techiip
- em is fc
in tfi
^lley
road nil
enhances h
designs
i3es, Ed»
-^■e, suppii
in wbicl
■ pants op
- “Thetei
treated a
yred toil,
idem dri>f
». ve so fai
cmthsA
if accide
citatioi
amoi
andwtei heories will be published in the
nvironnj ournal of the American An-
d drivers! bropological Association.
A&M researchers countered that
—ro andjlio existing evidence supports
their du larner’s theory. They also say that
"ds is thd ood levels were adequate enough
esn’tyiel bat Aztecs were not forced into
annibalism and that humans serve
—s got toi s a relatively inefficient source of
ercepfe irotein anyway.
Dr. Vaughn Bryant, leading au-
abilityod hority on prehistoric diets, explains
hat'if the Aztecs ate only beans and
orn they would obtain all the pro-
ein they needed.
“Aztecs sacrificed many, many
humans. But I think what we are
seeing is a misinterpretation of
ritualistic cannibalism in which a
person eats a token piece of van
quished enemy as an insult or to
gain that enemy’s strength,” Bryant
declared.
Cultural anthropologist Dr.
Norman Thomas, who has done
long-term studies of the direct de
scendants of the Aztecs, says
Harner’s idea is a “perfectly legiti
mate one within the framework of
modern anthropology.”
However, Thomas believes
Harner should restudy the existing
resources of protein around the Az
tecs before making such a risky
statement.
Thomas says the ancient civiliza
tion ate fish, aquatic insect eggs and
snails, all high sources of protein, in
addition to vegetables and some
locally produced meat.
Shafer said the Aztecs had access
to some meat through small, domes
tic animals, through marketplace
exchanges and through hunting.
Thomas notes that ritualistic can
nibalism was highly developed in
North, Central and South American
societies, and underlying all that is
the question of whether there might
have been biological needs. He says
Harner may have something if he’s
able to document it.
Physical anthropologist Dr. Or-
dean Oyen said Harner gives little
credit to the Aztecs for efficiency.
Oyen believes the human would be
an extremely inefficient source of
protein, particularly if captives to be
sacrificed were sustained on food
that could have been eaten by Az
tecs, as Harner suggests.
“If he reaches this conclusion
from the evidence, what will future
anthropologists think of a 20th Cen
tury Nazi concentration camp?” asks
Oyen. “They’ll think all Germans
were cannibals.”
Shafer questions Harner’s citation
of contemporary accounts written
by conquering Spaniards.
“First written accounts of new
peoples always reveal them as
grotesque. You can’t take them lit
erally . As for the account written by
Bernal Diaz (with Cortez), he was
defending the Spanish conquest,”
Shafer said.
Dr. Glendon Weir, who just
completed an intensive study of
prehistoric food resources in Peru,
explains that food levels in the Val
ley of Mexico appeared to be
adequate to support the Aztecs
without their turning to can
nibalism.
Weir calls Harner’s theory “plaus
ible,” but asserts that no existing
evidence supports the idea.
“Why would they go to can
nibalism for food when cannibalism
already had strong religious mean
ing? It might have even been taboo
except for rituals,” he argues.
Harner’s claim, Weir recalls, is
based on population estimates that
are unsupported by known evi
dence. “If one of the population fig
ures prove inaccurate, his whole
theory could fall apart.”
A&M laboratories have dietary
evidence from North and Central
Mexico, some of it 10,000 years old,
and none of it suggests that meat or
human flesh was necessary to sus
tain life, said Bryant.
HE TOUNG VEST Jin Earle
James Butler Hickok
BETTER KNOWN AS
WILD BILL
MAY NOT HAVE KILLED 100 MEN
AS HE CLAIMED, BUT HE DID
KILL TWO MEN IN ONE DAY
WHEN HE WAS MARSHAL OF
ABILENE, KANSAS, ON THE
NIGHT OF OCTOBER 5, 1871.
A BUNCH OF DROVERS FROM
TEXAS, LEAD BY PHIL COE,
WERE SHOOTING UP THE TOWN
WHEN THEY CAME FACE-TO-FACE
WITH BILL. COE FI RED HIS
GUN IN BILL'S DIRECTION AND
WAS GUNNED DOWN BY THE
MARSHAL, WHO THEN HEARD
FOOTSTEPS RUNNING TOWARD
HIM. WHIRLING AND FIRING
BOTH PISTOLS, HE KILLED
HI S SECOND MAN OF THE
NIGHT: MILE WILLIAMS,
H I S DEPUTY.
(g) peg T7 1
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Awards for Texas A&M Univer
sity’s third annual student poetry
and fiction contest will be an
nounced at 8 p.m. Thursday in Rud
der Theatre.
Special guest for the ceremony is
poet Peter Cooley of Tulane Uni
versity, whose first book of poems,
“Company of Strangers,” has been
published by the University of Mis
souri Press.
Dr. Paul Parrish said the selec
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category will be made from works
submitted by more than 100 stu
dents at A&M . Each student was el
igible to submit several works.
The top three in each category
also receive a cash award, Parrish
added.
Earlier Thursday, Cooley will be
guest speaker at a 12:30 p.m. crea
tive writing class in Harrington
Education Center.
This is the second year for com
bined poetry-fiction competition. It
was expanded last year from a
poetry-only contest. The Memorial
Student Center Arts Committee
sponsors the awards selection.
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