Tzompantli
The tzompantli (from Nahuatl tzontli = "hair", pantli = "row") was a wooden frame on which human skulls were lined up. However, often the skulls were just stacked.
Historical background
Before the Spanish conquest of Central America in the 16th century, many human sacrifices were made to the Indian gods (especially the war god Huitzilopochtli ). Most of them were captured warriors from the so-called flower wars . The skulls of the dead were neatly lined up on racks and displayed. The Spaniards found many of these racks on their conquest campaign in Mexico . Bernal Diaz del Castillo estimates in his book The Real History of the Conquest of New Spain the number of skulls on a single Tzompantli as 100,000. The skulls were easy to count because they were lined up so neatly. However, he could not determine when the skulls had been collected.
For a long time, the Tzompantlis were seen as triumphant testimony to victories over hostile tribes. However, in the beliefs of the Aztecs and the other peoples of Central America (e.g. Toltecs or Mixtecs ), the spirits of the dead returned every year. So that they had a vessel in which to live that night, the people kept the skulls. However, the sacrificial cult of the Aztecs died out after the Spanish conquest.
Skulls can still be seen in relief on many historical buildings in Central America today. Belief in the return of the spirits of the dead still exists in Mexico today and is celebrated on the Day of the Dead .
Zapotecs
In 2003, in a place called La Coyotera in the Oaxaca Valley , an approximately 2000 year old structure was discovered which the Zapotecs called yàgabetoo and which is very similar to a Tzompantli. It would be by far the oldest testimony of its kind.
Maya
On the Yucatán Peninsula , in the jungle of Petén living and southern highlands Maya knew no Tzompantlis or similar structures. Only in the site of Chichén Itzá , which is largely influenced by the Toltec culture, is there such a “skull”.
literature
- Mary Miller , Karl Taube : The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya . Thames and Hudson, London 1993. ISBN 0-500-05068-6
- Bernard R. Ortíz de Montellano: Counting Skulls: Comment on the Aztec Cannibalism Theory of Harner-Harris . American Anthropologist 85 No.2, 1983.
- Bernal Díaz del Castillo : The True Story of the Conquest of Mexico (edited and edited by Georg Adolf Narziss). Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-458-32767-3
- Marvin Harris: Cannibals and Kings. The growth limits of high cultures . DTV, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-423-30500-2 .
- Rubén G. Mendoza: The Divine Gourd Tree. Tzompantli Skull Racks, Decapitation Rituals, and Human Trophys in Ancient Mesoamerca. In: Richard J. Chacon and David H. Dye (Eds.): The Taking and Displaying of Human Body Parts as Trophies by Amerindians. Springer 2008, ISBN 978-0-387-76983-7 , pp. 401ff.
Web links
- Aztec Wars - Photos + Infos engl.
- Tzompantli from Tenochtitlán - Photos + Info (Spanish)
- Tzompantli from Tenochtitlán - photo + info (INAH, Spanish)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bernal Díaz del Castillo: The True Story of the Conquest of New Spain. P. 510
- ↑ Bernal Díaz del Castillo: The True Story of the Conquest of New Spain. P. 153
- ↑ Tzompantli La Coyotera