{"id":1463518,"date":"2022-05-04T10:29:46","date_gmt":"2022-05-04T14:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1463518"},"modified":"2022-05-04T10:29:51","modified_gmt":"2022-05-04T14:29:51","slug":"ritual-decapitation-new-theory-emerges-for-150-skulls-found-in-cave-in-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ritual-decapitation-new-theory-emerges-for-150-skulls-found-in-cave-in-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Ritual Decapitation\u2019: New Theory Emerges For 150 Skulls Found In Cave In Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fritual-decapitation-new-theory-emerges-for-150-skulls-found-in-cave-in-mexico%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1463518&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/05\/Aztec-skulls.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>A stack of 150 skulls discovered 10 years ago in Mexico and first believed to be related to cartel violence have been dated back to a ritual sacrifice nearly 1,000 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Historians and archeologists have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/smart-news\/skulls-thought-to-belong-to-modern-murder-victims-actually-date-to-the-pre-hispanic-period-180980015\/\">determined<\/a> that the massive collection of skulls were actually from a process known as \u201critual decapitation,\u201d which likely took place between 900-1200 A.D.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBelieving they were looking at a crime scene, investigators collected the bones and started examining them in Tuxtla Gutierrez,\u201d the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/immigration-mexico-caribbean-dd88b8234091441cb5e22ba5847e5b99\">said<\/a> in a statement last week, according to the Associated Press.<\/p>\n<p>The area where the skulls were found, in Frontera Comalapa, Chiapas, has been known for cartel violence and human trafficking, the AP reported. Authorities were also thrown off during the initial discovery because this pile of skulls had distinct differences from similar piles found throughout the nation.<\/p>\n<p>Typically, skulls from human sacrifices and rituals would not be discovered inside caves, but in ceremonial plazas. Skulls also normally had holes put into them from the side of the head.<\/p>\n<p>The skulls are believed to belong to victims of the Aztecs or a similar Mesoamerican culture, who killed people for ritual purposes and then placed their skulls on a tzompantli, or \u201ca kind of trophy rack,\u201d the AP noted.<\/p>\n<p>The Aztecs ruled parts of Mexico beginning in the 14th century, but fell when Spanish explorer Hernan Cortes conquered them in 1521.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLike a giant abacus constructed with human heads instead of beads, the Aztec tzompantli were constructed with wooden beams with skulls skewered in rows on horizontal poles,\u201d Dolly Stolze <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/smart-news\/skulls-thought-to-belong-to-modern-murder-victims-actually-date-to-the-pre-hispanic-period-180980015\/\">wrote<\/a> in 2015, according to Smithsonian Magazine. \u201cThe skulls displayed on these racks were harvested from victims of human sacrifice or from soldiers who died on the battlefield.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The skulls in this cave were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/mexico-crime-scene-skulls-actually-sacrificial-victims\">primarily<\/a> from women with several young children as well.<\/p>\n<p>By several accounts, Spanish explorers and conquistadors saw evidence of the mass human sacrifices that were common among Mesoamerican cultures. One Spaniard, Andres de Tapia, said he saw a tower made from the bodies of the victims. According to Tapia, the tower included the skulls of 136,000 victims.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[F]rom top to bottom there were as many men on the [tower\u2019s] posts as could fit, and on each post there were five heads of the dead strung by their temples,\u201d he wrote after visiting Tenochtitlan.<\/p>\n<p>Archeologists have uncovered many other skulls in the region that were from human sacrifices, and archaeologist Javier Montes de Paz told people to turn to archeologists if they have similar discoveries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen people find something that could be in an archaeological context, don\u2019t touch it and notify local authorities or directly the INAH,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>Back in December 2020, 119 additional skulls <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-latin-america-55283313\">were<\/a> discovered as part of a similar skull tower that was under excavation in Mexico City and first discovered in 2015. Like the 150 skulls found in 2012, skulls found included those from women and children, rather than young men, who would likely be warriors.<\/p>\n<p><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies for breaking news, investigative reporting, sports, podcasts, in-depth analysis, books, and entertainment for a reason: because we believe in what we do. We believe in our country, in the value of truth and the freedom to speak it, and in the right to challenge tyranny wherever we see it. Believe the same? <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/utm.io\/ueuP8\"><i>Become a member now and join our mission<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A stack of 150 skulls discovered 10 years ago in Mexico and first believed to be related to cartel violence have been dated back to a ritual sacrifice nearly 1,000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":1481545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1463518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1463518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1463518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1463518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1481545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1463518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1463518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1463518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}