One of the most important things that I have learned as an Anthropology major, is to look at everything I see and read with an outsiders point of view, never putting personal feelings into it. There are multiple sides to every story and it is naïve to focus solely on the accounts of one. My job is to look at everything I have read and figure out the one that gives the best answer with supporting data. The first article I read was Harner’s, The Enigma of Aztec Sacrifice. Human sacrifice is a practice that is widely distributed in our world’s history, yet the reasons for why these practices occurred are not always made clear. According to Harner, the main reason the Aztecs performed sacrifices was so that they could have an excuse to eat the victims. …show more content…
However, when I read Bernard R. Ortiz de Montellano’s article, Aztec Cannibalism: An Ecological Necessity?, I had to question my thoughts about Harner’s. Montellano’s article was a rebuttal to Harner’s and the evidence he produced against him was overwhelming. Montellano stated that not only was starvation not the root of the Aztecs sacrifices, it had no part whatsoever in the reasons at all. His biggest evidence was that most of the sacrifices took place during times of bountiful harvest months and when the Aztecs sacrificed to the rain god, Tlaloc, the victims were buried intact most of the time. The reason for their increased sacrifices was as a way to thank the gods for such a rich harvest. A very good motive for the cannibalism is because of religious reasons. The Aztecs believed that by eating a sacrificed victim, they could be closer to the gods. Another thing that Montellano mentions in his article is the fact that it is ethnocentric to believe the Aztecs were starving due to lack of domesticated