Angélica María Medrano Enríquez

One of the most significant bellicose events of the Viceroyal period in the Kingdom of New Galicia, which today is Western Mexico, was the Mixton War (1541-1542), fought by some groups of Indigenous people from the Northern part of New Galicia, among them the Caxcans, also known as Teules Chichimec. These were moments of tension and instability that brought about a great military mobilization, forming the largest Novo-Hispanic army headed by Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza, who personally went to the area in conflict, after the death of Pedro de Alvarado in one of the battles of this insurrection, an unfortunate event that took place. This war is documented in the historical sources with large gaps in their information, among the details are announced the different spaces where bloody battles took place, in some cases with detailed descriptions, but other narrations are extremely vague, which is why several questions arise respect to the location of the places of the clashes. On this occasion, the discussion on these spaces offers their location following the methodology of battlefield archaeology: revision of historical accounts and cartography, landscape analysis, and archaeological prospection.

Recent salvage excavations conducted in the Early Postclassic city of Tula, Hidalgo, exposed a residential compound containing an open patio, beneath which was discovered a massive burial, designated Feature 5. Human remains involving a minimum of 49 individuals were discovered, many of whom were arranged in a sitting or squatting position. The majority of individuals, including all of the latter, were young children. The bioarchaeological analysis suggests that they were sacrificed. Many individuals exhibited anthropogenic modification, including cut marks on the skull and postcranial skeleton, indicating the children had been flayed. Some individuals were represented only by the skull and cervical vertebrae, suggesting decapitation. The individuals appeared to be in bad health, a common attribute of children sacrificed to Tlaloc by the Aztecs. According to ethnohistorical sources, children offered to Tlaloc commonly had their throats slit, although this practice was not identified among the individuals in Feature 5, possibly owing to their young age. Sacrifice also may have been made to Xipe Totec, as suggested by the evidence of flaying and the presence of a large hollow sculpture of the deity located in an adjacent residential compound, a deity who has been also linked to human sacrifice related to regeneration and fertility.