New victims for old gods: human sacrifice of the conquerors in colonial contexts.// Nuevas víctimas para viejos dioses: sacrificio humano de los conquistadores en contextos coloniales

STUDI E MATERIALI DI STORIA DELLE RELIGIONI Fondata nel 1925 da Raffaele Pettazzoni

82/2 (2016) Religion as a Colonial Concept in Modern History (America, Asia)

pubblicati dal Dipartimento di Storia, Culture, Religioni Sapienza - Università di Roma MORCELLIANA

Stampato con il contributo della Sapienza Università di Roma

Finito di stampare nel dicembre 2016

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daVid charleS Wright-carr, Persistence of Pre-Hispanic Military .....................................

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rocco ronzani, La corrispondenza Buonaiuti-Vannutelli nell’Archivio ........................................................

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JoSé a. delgado delgado, romano. La evidencia de los commentarii fratrum arvalium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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New victims for old gods

Human sacrifice of conquerors in colonial contexts

This paper is part of the research project “Interreligious contact in the Roman World and in colonial Mesoamerica: A comparative analysis”1, which brings together specialists in the Ancient World (historians, anthropologists, archaeologists and philologists) with others working in the Modern period. considering comparison as a starting point – and never as a point of arrival2 – for a better understanding of cultural specificity, we aim to analyze: 1) Firstly, the use of the classical World by the European colonizers as a model to conceptualize the conquest experience and to build the discourse on the other (or the otherness) according to established categories such as barbarism and idolatry, human sacrifice, sorcery and magic. 2) secondly, the different responses of the natives to the colonizers in the Roman World and in colonial México, from violence and rejection to selective appropriation, as well as the role of christian rhetoric in the process of contact and the syncretism or ‘bricolage’ in the religious systems of indigenous and colonizers. Within these premises, this paper deals with one of the specific goals of this project: the study of ritual killing and human sacrifice as religious and cultural responses in colonial contexts. our work focuses on the comparative analysis of two cases of ritual killing of invaders that might be considered as an indigenous ‘spiritual conquests’ of the conquistadores in the initial period of the colonization process: the ritual killing of Romans by the Britons in Boudiccan anti-colonial revolt, and the immolation of a spanish caravan captured by the inhabitants of Zultépec-Tecoaque during Hernán cortés’ conquest of México in 1520-1521. In both cases, new victims were offered to the old gods in historical contexts of violence and colonial rejection. 1 This project is funded by the spanish Ministry of Economy and competitivness (HAR2014-57067-P). 2 see J.Z. smith, Adde Parvum Oarvo magnus Acervus Erit, in «History of Religions» 11, 1 (1971), pp. 69-70; Id., Drudgery Divine. On the Comparison of Early Christianities and the Religions of Late Antiquity, University of chicago Press, London 1990; J. scheid - J. svebo, Le comparatisme, point de départ ou point d’arrivée?, in F. Boespflug - F. Dunand (eds.), Le comparatisme en histoire des religions, centre de Recherches d’histoire des religions, Paris 1995, pp. 295-311; M. Burger - c. calame (eds.), Comparer les comparatismes. Perspectives sur l’histoire et les sciences des religions, Université de Lausanne, Paris - Milan 2006.

SMSR 82 (2/2016) 593-606

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1. The mutilation of Roman women in Boudicca’s revolt In the context of the revolt of Boudicca3, the queen of the britons Iceni, against the Roman rule in the year 60 A.D., and with occasion of the attacks on the three most important cities within the area controlled by Rome – Londinium (London)4, Verulamium (st. Albans) and Camulodunum (colchester) –, a series of atrocities were perpretated by the indigenous in the name of Andraste, the goddess of victory, including the mutilations and ritual killing of Roman women: «The worst and most bestial atrocity committed by their captors was the following. They hung up naked the noblest and most distinguished women and then cut off their breasts and sewed them to their mouths, in order to make the victims appear to be eating them; afterwards they impaled the women on sharp skewers run lengthwise through the entire body. All this they did to the accompaniment of sacrifices, banquets, and wanton behaviour, not only in all their other sacred places, but particularly in the grove of Andraste. This was their name for victory, and they regarded her with most exceptional reverence»5.

M. Aldhouse-green and other scholars have rightly interpreted in terms of sacrificial offerings to Andraste6 the killing and mutilations of the Roman women, and the context of Dio cassius passage points to this conclusion7. The religious functions of Boudicca have been stressed by 3 on the literary sources on Boudicca’s revolt, cfr. R. syme, Tacitus ii, clarendon Press, oxford 1962, pp. 762-766; g. Webster - D.R. Dudley, The Rebellion of Boudicca, Barnes & Noble, London - New York 1962; J.c. overbeck, Tacitus and Dio on Boudicca’s rebellion, in «The American Journal of Philology» 90 (1969), pp. 129-145; N.J. Reed, The Sources of Tacitus and Dio for the Boudiccan revolt, in «Latomus» 33 (1974), pp. 926-933; J.M. gordillo Martín, Boudicca según Dión Cassio: el retrato alegórico de la “Gran Reina” mítica, in A. Alfaro giner - M. garcía sánchez - M. Alamar Laparre (eds.), Actas del Tercer y Cuarto Seminariosde Estudios sobre “La Mujer en la Antigüedad” (Valencia, 28-30 abril, 1999 y 12-14 abril, 2000), Universitat de valència, valència 2002, pp. 77-90; E. Adler, Valorizing the Barbarians. Enemy Speeches in Roman Historiography, University of Texas Press, Austin 2012, pp. 117-162. 4 A re-examination of the alleged relation of the human remains of Walbrook valley with Boudican revolt in R. Redfern - H. Bonney, Headhunting and amphitheater combat in Roman London, England: new evidence from the Walbrook Valley, in «Journal of Archaeological science» 43 (2014), pp. 214-226. 5 Dio cassius lxii.7.2-3 (tr. E. cary). 6 on this goddess, cfr. A. Hofeneder, Die Religion der Kelten in den antiken literarischen Zeugnissen. Sammlung, Überstetzung und Kommentierung. Band iii: Von Arrianos bis zum Ausklang der Antike, verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien 2011, pp. 170-171 and notes 894-899, with references. 7 M. Aldhouse-green, Dying for the gods. Human sacrifice in Iron Age & Roman Europe, Tempus, stroud 2001. see also B. Lincoln, The Druids and Human Sacrifice, in M.A. Jazayeri - W. Winter (eds.), Languages and Cultures: Studies in Honor of Edgar Polomé, W. de gruyter, Berlin - New York 1988, pp. 381-195 (= Death, War and Sacrifice. Studies in Ideology and Practice, chicago University Press, chicago 1991, pp. 176-187); F. graf, Menschenopfer in der Burgerbibliothek. Anmerkungen zum Götterkatalog der “Commenta Bernensia” zu Lucan 1, 445, in «Archäologie der schweiz» 14 (1991), pp. 136-143; F. Marco simón, Sacrificios

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diverse authorities from c. Jullian to T.D. Kendrick or P.B. Ellis8. c. sterckx9 has written a stimulant study on the importance of the ablation ritual in the celtic realms, comparable to the beheading of the male enemies, as diverse manifestations of a symbolic castration. There are different parallels that illustrate this ritual killing, including the breast mutilations10. 2. The finds of Zultépec-Tecoaque (Mexico) our second case comes from a completely different chronological and cultural horizon: Mesoamerica. The settlement of Zultépec, which in náhuatl language means “Hill of the partridges”, in the western part of the state of Tlaxcala, was destroyed in 1521 by the spaniards as a punishment for the sacrifice of the members of a spaniard caravan coming from vera cruz, in the gulf of Mexico’s coast, the previous year. The caravan, led by Pánfilo de Narváez, was formed by spanishs, negros, mulattos, zambos and Indigenous allies of the conquerors and was immolated by local people in 1520, which explains the name given by the natives to the city, Tecoaque, meaning “the place were the lords or gods were eaten”11. humanos en la Céltica Antigua: entre el estereotipo literario y la evidencia interna, in «Archiv für Religionsgeschichte» 1 (1999), pp. 1-15; s. Alfayé, Santuarios y rituales en la Hispania Céltica, Archaeopress, oxford 2009, pp. 287-311; I. Armit, Headhunting and the body in Iron Age Europe, cambridge University Press, cambridge 2012.. 8 c. Jullian, Recherches sur la religion gauloise (= Bibliothèque des Universités du Midi, fasc. Vi), Feret, Bordeaux 1903, p. 101, n. 7; T.D. Kendrick, The Druids: A Study in Celtic Prehistory, cass, London 1927, p. 96 ; P.B. Ellis, The Druids, constable, London 1994, p. 98 ; A. Hofeneder, Die Religion der Kelten, cit., pp. 169-174, notes 928 and 929. 9 c. sterckx, La tête et les seins. La mutillation rituelle des ennemis et le concept de l’âme, verlag der Forschungsgruppe für Anthropologie und Religionsgeschichte, saarbrücken 1981. 10 In Daigean, co, offaly, Ireland, a new Iron Age body was found in a bog at the foot of an ancient hill, belonging to a man, the so called old croghan Man, killed in the period between 362-175 Bc. The deceased was decapitated, had his nipples cut and his thorax severed from his abdomen, and had a plaited leather band around his left arm, what indicated high status. That old croghan Man may have been a failed candidate for kingship, or perhaps even a deposed king, is implied by the fact that his nipples were cut thus rendering him ineligible for kingship. This is because the suckling of a king’s nipples was an important gesture of submission by subordinates, and the stylised representation of breasts and nipples on the terminals of gold torch indicates that this was a custom that extended as far back as the Late Bronze Age at least, although other theories suggest that old croghan Man and other bog bodies were sacrificed to gods of fertility or harvest. see E.P. Kelly, Secrets of the bog bodies: the enigma of the Iron Age Explained, in «Archaeology Ireland» 20, 1 (2006), pp. 26-30. 11 on the archaeological site of Zultépec-Tecoaque, see E. Martínez vargas - A.M. Jarquín, Materiales arqueológicos de Tlaxcala, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México 1998, pp. 20-29, 85-190; A.M. Jarquín - E. Martínez vargas, Tecoaque: encuentro entre dos mundos en una página de la conquista de México, in M. Almagro-gorbea - c. Esteras (eds.), Itinerario de Hernán Cortés. Catálogo de la Exposición, canal de Isabel ii gestión, Madrid 2015, pp. 133-143, 396-404.

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Three spanish literary sources mention this episode: the second and Third Cartas de Relación sent by Hernán cortés to the emperor charles V (1520-1522); the Historia General de las Indias by López de gómara; and the Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España by Bernal Díaz del castillo. According to this information, some of the 45 spaniards captured were taken to Texcoco to be sacrificed as those of Tecoaque. These sources mention that as a result of the ritual killing of the spaniards, cortés sent an expedition of punishment under the command of gonzalo de sandoval12. Moreover, in the excavations carried out in Tecoaque since 1990, diverse remains have been found in the ceremonial center which confirm archaeologically the aforementioned literary information13. 1. Firstly, a concentration of fourteen human skulls was found in the southern side of the base of the main temple, dedicated to EhécatlQuetzalcóatl (creator god par excellence, god of the wind and lord of the temple) and to Mayáhuel, goddess provider of the pulque, a sacred drink. The skulls were found under a big vessel, and all of them had round holes in the parietal-temporal region, what induced to think that they had been exposed towards the sunrise in a tzompantli of the temple, i.e. the altar o low stone platform on which the heads of the sacrificed victims were exhibited as skull racks14. The analysis has confirmed traces of cuts, which corroborates that these people were sacrificed, and probably that their flesh was also consumed. Anthropological studies show that there are seven male skulls and seven female, divided into two different groups. one of them, with an Amerindian origin, was composed by three otomí skulls, two belonging to people from the gulf coast and another two from central Mexico, 12 on these literary sources, see E. Martínez vargas - A.M. Jarquín, Materiales arqueológicos, cit., pp. 23-26. 13 Ibi, pp. 183-187; E. Martínez vargas, Zultépec-Tecoaque, sacrificio de españoles y sus aliados durante la conquista, in «Arqueología Mexicana» 11 (2003), pp. 52-57; Id., La conmemoración de la festividad del Fuego Nuevo Zultépec-Tecoaque: una propuesta a partir de materiales arqueológicos, in «Estudios Mesoamericanos» 6 (2004), pp. 20-29; E. Martínez vargas - A.M. Jarquín, El tzompantli de Zultépec-Tecoaque, in «Letras Libres», Enero (2010), pp. 32-36; E. Martínez vargas, El sacrificio de negros al inicio de la conquista de México, in «Arqueología Mexicana» 119 (2013), pp. 28-35; Id., Ofrendas a Mayáhuel, diosa del maguey, en ZultepecTecoaque, in «Arqueología Mexicana», Edición Especial 57 (2014), pp. 32-35; R. Figueres, Vers une paléopathologie de la Conquête Espagnole au Mexique et au Pérou, in «Paleobios» 17 (2012), on line at ; A.M. Jarquín E. Martínez vargas, Tecoaque, cit., pp. 134-143. A discussion on the different historigraphical approaches to these findings in R.J. chacón - R.g. Mendoza (eds.), The Ethics of Anthropology and Amerindian Research: Reporting on Enviromental Degradation and Warfare, springer, New York 2011, pp. 195-201. 14 E. Martínez vargas - A.M. Jarquín, Materiales arqueológicos, cit., pp. 183-187; Idd., El tzompantli, cit., pp. 32-36; Idd., Tecoaque, cit., pp. 136-137.

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probably belonging to tlaxcaltecas, as well as a woman from the Maya region. The second group, of a non-Mesoamerican origin, was integrated by people of European origin and one female mulatto, certainly coming from cuba15. All the remains belong to adult individuals between 20 and 35 years old. The burial of skulls belonging to spaniards which had been previously exposed in a tzompantli is a ritual practice that has been similarly attested in Tlatelolco and México city16. The Mexican archaeologists who have convincingly studied these evidence have concluded that the sacrifice of these individuals took place during the feast of Panquetzaliztli in the fifteenth month of the náhuatl calendar (from 29th November to 19th December of our Julian calendar), about which the chronicles of sahagún, Durán and Benavente (Motolinía) give precious information, including that it was an offering to the war god Huitzilopochtli. Accordingly, the heart of the victims was taken out to present it to the sun, and in the case of war captives, their flesh was consumed. The following day a pulque called matlaloctli and macuiloctli was drunk, and it was also given to the victims that were about to be sacrificed on the stone altar. Indeed, the big vessel covering the skulls exposed in the tzompantli, it was identified as a container of blue pulque, the sacred and intoxicating drink provided by Mayáhuetl, whose ingestion was carefully ruled: it was consumed by the priests, important individuals, the eldermen, the sacrificial victims and women during childbirth. The decoration of the vessel fits perfectly with this sacrifical interpretation17. several meters off the place where the skulls were inhumated, in the central point of the access to the upper part of the temple, a sacred chest was found, embedded into the ground, which was destined to keep the heart of one of the sacrificied victims. Besides, on the third step of the stair of the round main temple a rectangular niche was found with a flint 15 E. Martínez vargas, El sacrificio de negros, cit., pp. 28-35. on the presence of black people in colonial Mexico, see P. Fournier - T.H. charlton, Negritos y pardos: hacia una arqueología histórica de la población de origen africano en la Nueva España, in F. López Aguilar - W. Wiesheu - P. Fournier (eds.), Perspectivas de la investigación arqueológica. Volumen iii, eNah, México 2008, pp. 201-234; E. gallaga - v. Tiesler, La arqueología y el pasado afroamericano, in «Arqueología Mexicana» 119 (2013), pp. 24-27. 16 on Mexican tzompantli, see, amongs others, E. carreón, Tzompantli, horca y picota, in «Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas» 88 (2006), pp. 5-32; R.g. Mendoza, The Divine Gourd Tree. Tzompantli Skull Racks, Decapitation Rituals and Human Trophies in Ancient Mesoamerica, in R.J. chacon - D.H. Dye (eds.), The taking and displaying of Human body parts as trophies by Amerindians, springer, New York 2007, pp. 400-443; A. solari, Cráneos de tzompantli bajo la Catedral Metropolitana de la ciudad de México, in «cuicuilco» 15, 42 (2008), pp. 143-164. 17 on the vessel, cfr. A.M. Jarquín - E. Martínez vargas, Octecómatl del pulque azul, in M. Almagro-gorbea - c. Esteras (eds.), Itinerario de Hernán Cortés. Catálogo de la Exposición, canal de Isabel II gestión, Madrid 2015, pp. 147-148.

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sacrificial knife (técpatl) inside, together with some fragments of copal, an odorous resine that accompanied the sacrifice and that, according to the myths, caused the delight of Quetzalcóatl. Lastly, on the upper part of the structure a sacrificial stone (téchcatl) was found, in a space that was considered as an axis mundi in which the earthly and celestial domains intersected18. 2. secondly, a significant number of dismembered skeletons belonging to more than 200 human sacrifices of different ethnic groups were found in the southern square of Tecoaque. Among them, there were women and children, besides animals and objects of European provenance19. The remains show traces of traumatism, dismemberment and beheading, defleshment, cooking and ritual cannibalism. From the analysis of the remains and the available historical sources, it has been concluded that the ceremony corresponded to the great feast of the dead called Xocotl Huetzi, which means “The fruit that falls”, that was held in the tenth month of the indigenous calendar, i.e. from 11th to 30th August of 152020. 3. Lastly, an important offering was located at the North of the temple containing human and animal bones, ceramic items and ceremonial objects. The analysis concluded that there were 18 adult male individuals, one woman and three children, associated to braziers, smokers and censers, anthropomorphic figurines and other objects used by the spaniards, as well as indigenous sacrificial knives. Animal bones of species from European origin were identified, among them horse, cow, pig, ram and goat; and one of the vessels contained animal remains of species especially relevant in Mesoamerican mythology21. These remains have been related to the feast of Izcalli or ceremony of obtaining the new fire on the breast of a captive and his posterior cremation in the last month of the indigenous calendar, according to the information of sahagún. on the other hand, the abundance of the cups called pulqueras in this ritual deposit fits with the consumption of pulque that characterized that celebration22. After the study of the archaeological evidences from these three main deposits excavated in Tecoaque, scholars have concluded that the deA.M. Jarquín - E. Martínez vargas, Tecoaque, cit., p. 139. see the European materials found in Zultépec in E. Martínez vargas - A.M. Jarquín, Materiales arqueológicos, cit., pp. 189-190; E. Martínez vargas, El sacrificio de negros, cit., pp. 29-30, fig. 3; M. Almagro-gorbea - c. Esteras (eds.), Itinerario de Hernán Cortés, cit., pp. 400-402. 20 A.M. Jarquín - E. Martínez vargas, Tecoaque, cit., p. 140. 21 E. Martínez vargas - A.M. Jarquín, Materiales arqueológicos, cit., pp. 187-188; E. Martínez, La celebración, cit., pp. 22, 26, 28-29, fig. 5; R. veladez - B. Rodríguez, Uso de la fauna, estudios zooarqueológicos y tendencias alimentarias en culturas prehispánicas del Centro de México, in «Anales de Antropología» 48, 1 (2014), pp. 139-166: pp. 150-153, table I; M. Almagro-gorbea - c. Esteras (eds.), Itinerario de Hernán Cortés, cit., p. 404. 22 E. Martínez vargas, La celebración, cit., pp. 20-29; A.M. Jarquín - E. Martínez vargas, Tecoaque, cit., pp. 141-142. 18 19

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scribed sacrifices respond to a historical moment of instability and war. such a killing ritual expressed in that time a supplication to the gods in order to maintain the world and the cosmic balance, but also an attempt to join to their own forces those of the enemies through the consumption of their blood and flesh23. 4. The extraordinary findings of Tecoaque provide a matter of great relevance to reflection. The excavations document the presence of foreign elements – spanish, mulattos, tainos, African blacks (in burial M-30), tlaxcaltelas and mayas – in the caravan of the European colonizers attacked in 1520, as well as the incorporation of those elements into the indigenous rituals and ceremonies held at Zultépec during the conquest of Mexico. The scope of such sacrifices would be manyfold: maintenance of the cosmic balance, certainly, as in Mesoamerican sacrifices in general24, but also attaining the energy of the enemies and incentivating their own warriors with the exposition of the spaniards and their allies in the tzompantli of the temple, and the propitiation of divine support too25. one of the most interesting elements of the findings in Tecoaque are the skeletons of two taino captive women, who had been instructed in the christian religion by the spaniards in cuba, found in burial H-27. close to the face of one of them, an orange bowl with a cross hastily inscribed was placed26. The interpretation of this symbol is unclear: does it manifest the religious piety of the victims, the anxiety due to their captivity, or the peti-

E. Martínez vargas - A.M. Jarquín, El tzompantli, cit., p. 36. on Mesoamerican human sacrifice, see, amongst others, E.H. Boone (ed.), Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica, Dumbarton oaks Research Library and collection, Washington D.c. 1984; Y. gonzález Torres, El sacrificio humano entre los mexicas, Fondo de cultura Económica, México 1985; M.I. Nájera, El don de la sangre en el equilibrio cósmico. El sacrificio y el autosacrificio sangriento entre los antiguos mayas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México - Instituto de Investigaciones Filológicas - centro de Estudios Mayas, México 1987; M. graulich, Le Sacrifice humain chez les Aztèques, Fayard, Paris 2005; s. sugiyama, Human Sacrifice, Militarism, and Rulership. Materialization of State ideology at the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacan, cambridge University Press, cambridge 2005; g. olivier, Le sacrifice humain chez les Azteques, in «Historia Mexicana» 61, 1 (2006), pp. 287-301; v. Tiesler - A. cucina (eds.), New Perspectives on Human Sacrifice and Ritual Body Treatments in ancient maya Society, springer, New York 2007; R.J. chacón - R.g. Mendoza (eds.), Latin American Indigenous Warfare and Ritual Violence, The University of Arizona Press, Tucson 2007; E. López Luján - o. guilhem (eds.), El sacrificio humano en la tradición mesoamericana, iNah, México 2010; L.I. Paradis, La représentation des sacrifices humains par les Azteques et les Espagnols: una image vaut mille mots, in R. gagné (eds.), Sacrifices humains: perspectives croisées et représentations / Human sacrifice: cross-cultural perspectives and representations, Presses universitaires de Liège, Liége 2013, pp. 205-216. 25 A.M. Jarquín - E. Martínez vargas, Tecoaque, cit., pp. 142-143. 26 Idd., Vasija acolhua con el símbolo de la cruz cristiana, in M. Almagro-gorbea - c. Esteras (eds.), Itinerario de Hernán Cortés. Catálogo de la Exposición, canal de Isabel ii gestión, Madrid 2015, pp. 145-146. see also the crosses carved in a metate and a jar from Zultépec in M. Almagro-gorbea - c. Esteras (eds.), Itinerario de Hernán Cortés, cit., p. 403. 23 24

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tion of divine help facing a strange meal?27 or were these objects with the cross buried to show the dominion of the natives over the god of the conquerors? or could that cross be assimilated to the indigenous representation of the four parts of the world, typical in Mesoamerican cosmology28? 3. The “Colonial” terracotta figurines Also of special interest are the “colonial” terracotta figurines depicting men and women with European facial features and 16th century clothing, which were found in the 1990s during the excavation of the Western road of Zultépec, on the way to Texcoco. These items had been thrown into that road, along with several European metal objects and other preHispanic materials. To date, the only publication regarding these figurines is by E. Martínez vargas and A.M. Jarquín in 2008, completed with brief mentions in the catalogue of the exhibition on Hernán cortés held in Madrid in 201529. Why are these images relevant here? Although any indigenous ritual use of these terracotta has been denied, we consider that these images of the conquerors were crafted and manipulated by the inhabitants of Zultépec within sacrificial indigenous rituals of resistance against spaniards, in a context of cultural threat and violent subjugation. vargas and Jarquín classify these colonial terracottae into two main types: the figurines representing European monks and priests, which wear hats, doublets, smocks, belts and long-sleeves; and the christian cult images, i.e. female figures covered by a cloak or a shawl (mantilla), and with their hands crossed over their chest, an iconography similar to virgin Mary of 16th-century spain30. However, we suggest the identification of three more types: the portraits of European individuals with various garments and headdresses; the “soldiers”, male figures carrying weapons or sceptre-like poles; and the images of black people31. The paste and manufacture of these items are similar to the traditional indigenous technique, therefore it seems reasonable to think that these figurines were local crafts made at the settlement itself, as has also been proposed for other colonial terracotta from Mesoamerican archaeological sites32. A.M. Jarquín - E. Martínez vargas, Vasija acolhua, cit., p. 145. see several examples from Zultépec in E. Martínez vargas - A.M. Jarquín, Materiales arqueológicos, cit., pp. 122-123 and 140; E. Martínez vargas, La celebración, cit., pp. 23 and 27, figs. 28f. 29 on these figurines, see E. Martínez vargas - A.M. Jarquín, Imágenes religiosas con características europeas del momento de contacto: Zultépec-Tecoaque, Tlaxcala, in «Boletín del consejo de Arqueología iNah» (2010), pp. 1-13; M. Almagro-gorbea - c. Esteras (eds.), Itinerario de Hernán Cortés, cit., pp. 402-404. 30 E. Martínez vargas - A.M. Jarquín, Imágenes religiosas, cit., pp. 5-11, figs. 6-29. 31 E. Martínez vargas, El sacrificio de negros, cit., p. 29. 32 There is no comprehensive analysis of the Mesoamerican colonial figurines; see, 27 28

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How were these images of foreigners used for in Zultépec-Tecoaque in 1520? vargas and Jarquín state they were made to be sent as visual warnings to other Aztec localities, to alert them of the danger of the arrival of the spanish, putting face to the threat they involved33. our lecture is slightly different: these images were part of the same cultural logic and the same ritual strategies of resistance as the human sacrifices of the living conquerors, their animals and material belongings, which materialized and performatively propitiated dominance over the invader by the triumphant Indians. Actually, a closer look into the iconographical typology shows that the colonial figurines could depict a representative selection of the members of the caravan kidnapped in 1520: spanish soldiers, women, priests, and black persons. As for some virgin-like images, they could possibly reproduce portable religious images brought from Europe for protection; in fact, a European medal depicting a virgin has been found in a Tecoaque sacrificial context34. Most of these colonial terracotta are either headless or only the head has been preserved, which seems to be hardly a coincidental fragmentation. Therefore, the figurines could have been intentionally beheaded, a mutilation that mirrors the sacrificial practices executed on the bodies of the members of the aforementioned spaniard caravan. This hypothesis seems probable since ritual fragmentation of terracotta is also documented by the indigenous figurines from Zultépec, whose decapitation took place in traditional religious ceremonies, representing or replacing the deity or his/her victim35. For instance, three terracotta representing the goddess of corn, chocomecoatl, were beheaded in the Huei Tozofor instance, cfr. R.H. Barlow, Some Mexican figurines of the colonial period, in «carnige Institution of Washington. Notes on Middle American Archaeology» 3, 70 (1946), pp. 59-61; o. charlton, Las figurillas prehispánicas y coloniales de Tlatelolco, in Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (Mexico), Presencias y encuentros. Investigaciones arqueológicas de salvamento, Dirección de salvamento Arqueológico iNah, Tecamachalco 1995, pp. 157175; D.A. corona, Identidad social de las figurillas coloniales novohispanas, Ponencia presentada en la vii Conferencia Internacional Antropología 2004. Centro de Antropología, La Habana, pp. 1-14, available at (04/15); M.E. smith, Aztec-Style Figurines from Yautepec, Morelos, in «Mexicon» 27 (2005), pp. 48-49, fig. 6; T.H. charlton - o. charlton - P. Fournier, The Basin of Mexico AD 1450-1620: Archaeological dimensions, in s. Keepers - R.T. Alexander (eds.), The postclassic to Spanish transition in Mesoamerica. Archaeological perspectives, University of New Mexico Press, Alburquerque 2005, pp. 49-64: pp. 59-60, 62); P. Fournier - s.A. guerrero, Retrospectiva y perspectivas en torno al quehacer de la arqueología histórica en Michoacán, in c. Espejel (ed.), La investigación arqueológica en Michoacán. Avances, problemas y perspectivas, El colegio de Michoacán, Zamora 2014, pp. 305-350: pp. 327-328. 33 E. Martínez vargas - A.M. Jarquín, Imágenes religiosas, cit., pp. 4, 12. 34 see the copper medal in M. Almagro-gorbea - c. Esteras (eds.), Itinerario de Hernán Cortés, cit., p. 401. 35 A.M. Jarquín - E. Martínez vargas, La Diosa del Maíz en imágenes femeninas localizadas en Zultépec-Tecoaque, Tlaxcala, in «Boletín del consejo de Arqueología iNah» (2008), pp. 1-15. see other indigenous figurines from Zultépec in E. Martínez vargas - A.M. Jarquín,

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ztli festival, where images must be sacrificed to secure a good harvest, and they were later placed next to her altar as an offering36. Moreover, a white-painted figure of the goddess Toci was deposited in the underground well of a Tecoaque residential complex, along with remains of a European cow and other local animals, as part of a propitiating sacrificial rite during the festival of Oxhpaniztli. Despite being seemingly intact, the head of the figurine was severed and a turquoise bead was placed inside a hole in its neck37. In other Mesoamerican settlements, the sacrificial beheading of figurines was performed through the painting of red dots around their neck (glifo de sangre), which represented the blood from the slaughter of the beings – victims or gods – incarnated in these images38. Moreover, some of the colonial figurines from Zultépec were also painted with the same white pigment as this Toci’s image, which was traditionally used to colour Aztec cult terracotta. This coincidence, and the fact that indigenous terracotta were part of the traditional sacrificial practices performed of the site, could reinforce our hypothesis of the ritual use of the colonial figurines within native ceremonies, instead of their interpretation as visual warning devices stated by Martínez vargas and Jarquín39. According to the traditional religious logic and operational technique, the colonial terracotta incarnated the conquerors themselves, and consequently they suffered the same ritual killing as their own bodies to celebrate and propitiate indigenous victory over the spanish invaders. The Tecoaque inhabitants were therefore incorporating foreign images into their traditional sacrificial dynamics to build up native resistance and identity in an early colonial context. Actually, almost one and a half centuries later, it is literary attested the ritual killing of figurines of spaniards in a context of violent indigenous resistance against colonial power, during the mutiny of 1692 in Mexico city. A first-hand witness, c. de sigüenza y góngora, relates that during the tense days prior to the violent outbreak against the spanish dominators, «a certain number of dolls or clay figurines were found in the new channel, all of them of spaniards, and all of them stabbed with knives and spears made of the same clay, or with blood marks on their necks as if their throats had been slit». Materiales arqueológicos, cit., pp. 96-102, 156-161; M. Almagro-gorbea - c. Esteras (eds.), Itinerario de Hernán Cortés, cit., p. 403. 36 A.M. Jarquín - E. Martínez vargas, La Diosa del Maíz, cit., pp. 7-11 and 14-15, figs. 1-6. 37 Ibi, pp. 11-15, figs. 7-10. 38 see, for instance, v. vázquez, Figurillas antropomorfas y zoomorfas cerámicas del Preclásico Tardío en El Carrizal, Ixtepec, Oaxaca: Estudio de Significado Simbólico, Tesis doctoral, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México D.F. 2008, pp. 119-123, figs. 6.2, 6.3; and cfr. infra sigüenza y gongora’s account on colonial figurines.. 39 E. Martínez vargas - A.M. Jarquín, Imágenes religiosas, cit., pp. 4, 12.

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According to sigüenza, this findings «was true proof of how Indians utterly abhor us and was a demonstration of what they wish for the spaniards, because in that place Marqués del valle [Hernán cortés] was routed when on the night of 10 July 1520 he left Mexico, and according to their stories, they dedicated this to their greatest god, who is the god of wars [Huitzilopochtli] as ominous for us and happy for them»40.

Beyond any influence that European witchcraft imagery may have had on sigüenza’s account41, he did know the cultural communication codes used by the inhabitants of Mexico city, since he shared them as a creole. Therefore his interpretation of the figurines as part of native anti-colonial ritual strategies can be considered truthful, together with the mighty subversive significance attached to their deposition place, which was a mnemotopos, a place of memory, a physical reminder of the Indians’ victory over the conquerors in the renowned Noche triste. Taking into account sigüenza’s report, the figurines of Zultépec-Tecoaque could have been deposited in the very road to Texcoco intentionally, perhaps because the spanish threat came or could come from there, as a way of exorcising it through the ritual manipulation and sacrifice of the images of the conquerors. Nevertheless, the deterrent efficacy of this ritual was short-lived as soon afterwards, in 1521, gonzalo de sandoval entered Tecoaque, exterminating and enslaving any natives he found and beheading the images of their ancient gods42. He was very aware of the war of images going on, and of their power in the “spiritual conquest” and the construction of a new way-of-being-in-the-world43. The colonial figures from Tecoaque actually reveal the relevance of the use of images by indigenous peoples as part of the ritual dynamics of resistance developed during the process of conquest and colonial domination of Mexico by the spaniards, in a context of menace and native ontological insecurity. However, their visual and ritual strategies of selfassertion and cultural prevalence were paradoxically built using the con40 c. de sigüenza y góngora, Alboroto y motín de los indios de México, quoted in W. g. Bryant (ed.), Seis obras, Ayachucho, caracas 1984, p. 117. on this episode, cfr. c. Restrepo, Aproximaciones a la problemática criolla novohispana: el Ego y los Otros en Alboroto y Motín de los Indios de México de Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (1645-1700), in «Tabula Rasa» 8 (2008), pp. 177-196: pp. 188-192; H. corbato, La emergencia de la idea de Nacionalidad en el México colonial, in «Revista Iberoamericana» 6 (1943), pp. 377-392: pp. 385-386. 41 on witchcraft in colonial Mexico, cfr. J. Blázquez, Brujas e inquisidores en la América colonial (1569-1820), in «Espacio, tiempo y forma. serie iV. Historia Moderna» 7 (1994), pp. 71-98; M. López Pereda, Superstición, brujería y esclavitud en la sociedad colonial de Nueva España a mediados del siglo xvii, Universidad de santander, santander 2014. 42 A.M. Jarquín - E. Martínez vargas, Tecoaque, cit., pp. 135-136; M. Almagro-gorbea c. Esteras (eds.), Itinerario de Hernán Cortés, cit., p. 404. 43 s. gruzinski, La guerra de las imágenes: de Cristóbal Colón a “Blade runner” (14922019), Fondo de cultura Económica, México 1994.

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querors’ images, either adopting elements from their religious iconography, as could be the case of the incised crosses, or directly incorporating them into ritual practices, as shown by the colonial figurines depicting European and black people. In fact, they involved a transformation of their traditional ritual practices that marked the beginning of the end of the indigenous religious systems: the colonization of their imagination had already started. As aforementioned, the episode of the ritual killing of spaniards in Tecoaque was followed with the punishment expedition of gonzalo de sandoval. Again, there is a concordance between the information afforded by the literary sources from the conquerors and the archaeological findings. sandoval took the human and horse skulls from the tzompantli and buried them; then he destroyed the city and exterminated or enslaved its population and, what is more significant here, beheaded the statues of the indigenous gods and imposed the image of the christian virgin Mary in the indigenous temple of Ehécatl-Queztalcóatl44. Therefore, beyond any particular or specific interpretations of the rests, the whole ceremonial area excavated in Zultépec-Tecoaque is of key importance to understand the construction of colonial religion, and highlights the importance of Mesoamerican sacrifice in an universe that was perceived by the natives as essentially unstable45. 4. New Victims for Old Gods To conclude, in both cases mentioned in this paper, the RomanoBritish and the Mesoamerican, the sacrifice of the conquerors with their belongings and their images can be considered as an act of resistance and indigenous self-assertion, implying not only the physical and symbolic destruction of the invader, but also a demonstration of the power of the deities of the native people over the alien divinities. This interpretation can reflect on the responses generated by the indigenous religious systems in diverse historical and cultural contexts during the early stages of contact and colonial domination, on the selective and ritualized appropriation of diverse elements of the invaders as part of the cultural strategies of resistance, and on the archaeology of the indigenous “spiritual conquest” of the conquerors through their forced inclusion within the traditional religious practices, before the final submission of the natives.

A.M. Jarquín - E. Martínez vargas, Tecoaque, cit., pp. 135-136. M. graulich, El sacrificio humano en Mesoamérica, in «Arqueología Mexicana» 1994, pp. 17-23: p. 23. 44 45

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Fig. 1: Reconstruction of the skull-racks or tzompantli of Zultépec-Tecoaque (photo by F. Marco).

in Zultépec-Tecoaque (photo by F. Marco).

ABsTRAcT This paper explores indigenous human sacrifice of the invaders in early colonial contexts as a religious and cultural response to build up native resistance and identity. It focuses on the comparative analysis of two cases of ritual sacrifice of conquistadores in the initial period of different colonization processes: the sacrificial killing of Romans by the Britons in Boudiccan anti-colonial revolt in 60 ad, and the immolation of a Spaniard caravan captured by the inhabitants of Zultépec-Tecoaque during Hernán Cortés’ conquest of México in 1520-1521. In both cases, new victims were offered to the old gods in contexts of violence, colonial rejection, and indigenous ontological insecurity.

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In questo articolo si prende in esame la pratica indigena di compiere sacrifici umani con i corpi degli invasori quale risposta religiosa e culturale intesa a costruire la resistenza e l’identità nativa nei primi contesti coloniali. Si propone un’analisi comparativa di due casi di sacrificio rituale con i conquistadores nel ruolo di vittime, nel periodo iniziale dei differenti processi di colonizzazione: l’uccisione rituale dei Romani da parte dei Britanni nella rivolta anticoloniale di Boudicca nel 60 AD, e l’immolazione della carovana spagnola catturata dagli abitanti di Zultépec-Tecoaque durante la conquista del Messico guidata da Hernán Cortés nel 1520-1521. In entrambi i casi, nuove vittime vengono offerte agli antichi dèi in contesti di violenza, rigetto della colonizzazione e incertezza ontologica da parte degli indigeni. KEYWoRDs human sacrifice, colonial religion, Mesoamerica, Roman Britain, resistance, conquistadores, figurines of Zultépec-Tecoaque sacrificio umano, religione coloniale, Mesoamerica, Britannia romana, resistenza, conquistadores, figurine di Zultépec-Tecoaque