The Huei Tzompantli and the Sacrifice Question
For decades one anthropologist's theory that Aztec sacrifice was driven by protein shortage dominated the debate. A 2015–2017 excavation of the skull tower's actual foundations gave archaeologists real physical numbers to test such theories against for the first time.
Michael Harner's 1977 protein-shortage thesis; INAH's 2015–2017 excavation of the Templo Mayor skull tower
The great skull rack at the heart of the Aztec capital, where the skulls of sacrificial victims were displayed on public wooden poles.