Pre-Columbian Realities and the Limits of Indigeneity Narratives

Historical accounts and archaeological evidence confirm that the Aztec Empire practiced large-scale human sacrifice, including the construction of tzompantli skull racks at sites like the Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan. Recent excavations have uncovered hundreds of skulls, supporting descriptions of ritual killings of war prisoners to sustain religious cosmology involving blood offerings to the gods.

Mayan civilization similarly incorporated human sacrifice, documented through art, glyphs, skeletal remains, and colonial-era texts, often tied to religious rituals and myths such as the Hero Twins.

During the Spanish conquest, numerous indigenous groups, including the Tlaxcalans, Totonacs, and others resentful of Aztec tribute demands and dominance, formed alliances with Hernán Cortés' forces, playing a decisive role in the empire's fall.

These facts challenge simplistic modern narratives that portray pre-colonial societies as inherently peaceful or morally superior due to historical priority. Human history across the Americas and elsewhere involved cycles of migration, conquest, empire-building, and subjugation, with indigenous polities engaging in warfare, slavery, and ritual violence long before European arrival. Critiques of one-sided indigeneity frameworks highlight how selective emphasis on colonial atrocities can obscure these dynamics, reflecting patterns of identity politics that prioritize symbolic claims over comprehensive historical context.