Structural violence and physical death at Tlatelolco: selecting the chronically malnourished for sacrifice at a Late Postclassic Mesoamerican city (1300-1521 CE)

• DOI: 10.31235/osf.io/ua87m
• Publication Date: 2022-04-12T21:01:14Z
• Authors: Kelly Elaine Blevins; Madeline McGrane; Josefina Mansilla...; Salvador Guilliem...; Jane E. Buikstra
• Keywords: Sacrifice; Yucatan peninsula

Human sacrifice in Mesoamerican cities was diverse, highly ritualized, and remains incompletely characterized. Knowing who selected for ritual violence is essential interpreting specialized mortuary deposits furthering research on Mexica society. To understand the structure variability of sacrificial practices, we examine here three burial contexts from Tlatelolco, a densely populated city heart Triple Alliance. The interment Paso Desnivel (n=45) Grupo Norte (n=52) had been excavated within ceremonial center near Tlatelolco Templo Mayor, Atenantitech (n=40) bordering calpulli or neighborhood. establish which are likely deposits, compare age-at-death distributions, biological sex, perimortem trauma across these sites. We seek to if social status determined inclusion by using metabolic infectious disease as proxies resource inequality. find that residential deposit approximates an attritional mortality distribution primarily comprised non-adults, also presented with significantly higher rates than non-adults site. Informed previous studies ethnohistorical literature, propose impoverished individuals living margins society were chosen victims. High prevalence co-morbidity indicate endured long-term nutritional deficiency, apparently vitamin C. Further, variation age, pathology, treatment among reveal striking diversity ritualized killings prominent city.