Re: Anthropophagy
allen lutins (al2032@csc.albany.edu)
21 Dec 1994 06:14:50 GMT
In article <3d7ftpINNcmo@hpsdlmf7.sdd.hp.com>,
Gerold Firl <geroldf@sdd.hp.com> wrote:
>What percentage of the animal protein consumed by aztecs came from humans?
>The number of human victims sacrificed to the sun was enormous, and
>constituted the primary ideological justification for the aztec wars of
>conquest. But the sun was only interested in human hearts; what about all
>the other meat which was rolled down the pyramid steps? Without cattle, or
>sheep, or domesticated pigs, the mesoamerican civilisations had a notable
>lack of farmed flesh. [...]
...arguments such as these (this man's obviously studied his Marvin
Harris) fail to consider something: there are over 500 million
vegetarians in India today, and they are *not* dying off for lack of
protein...it is *not* that difficult for the human body to synthesize
protein from amino acids if the proper foods are eaten in the proper
combinations...these combinations (present in maize/beans/squash, for
example) were certainly available to the Aztecs...and there was
certainly supplementary meat around (peccary, deer, rabbit, etc.)...
-allen
--
"Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones
who are dragging you into court?" -- James 2:6 [NIV]
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allen `alley cat' lutins al2032@cnsunix.albany.edu
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