Scientists look at Mesoamerican Cannibalism, find new recipes.

According to an article in the May 20, 2015 issue of Forbes, archeologist have taken a collection of cooked human remains and subjected them to a variety of chemical tests. The results were a better understanding of not just the herbs and spices used to cook humans, but also the actual cooking methods. The results of the study were originally published in the May 20 issue of the academic journal, Archeometry.

The article was co-authored by A Trujillo-Mederos,   P. Bosch,  C. Pijoan,and J.Mansilla, and entitled, Savoury Recipes and the Colour of the Tlatelcomila Human Bones

Archeometry, the publishing journal, summarized the article as follows:

Keywords:

• cannibalism;
• temperature;
• DRX;
• AFM;
• EDS;
• UV–VIS;
• SEM;
• Pre-hispanic;
• axiote

Bones from Tlatelcomila (Tetelpan, México D.F.) were characterized by several complementary physical and chemical techniques, such as X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy and ultraviolet spectroscopy, to determine whether they were boiled or grilled. The usual correlation between thermal treatment and colour is revisited in terms of microscopic structure, morphology and texture. At temperatures less than 100°C, it is shown that colour depends not only on temperature or diagenesis but also on the cooking procedure; that is, on the presence of spice dyestuffs such as axiote (Bixa orellana) or chilli (Capsicum).

There is no word yet on how people who idealize Native American cultures and indigenous peoples have reacted.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2015/05/20/ancient-mesoamerican-recipe-for-cooking-human-flesh-decoded-by-archaeologists/

Bad Native American maps and politics

Perhaps you've heard of this new thing called "the internet"? It's a global technology system that is used to spread, among other things, pornography and misinformation, as well as "memes" where people reinforce their own political and religious views, and here's an example.

I'm not going to worry about the politics too much. They are, for better or worse, not too far from my own. But is the map correct? Is it a true and accurate representation of America before Columbus's arrival?      --absolutely not!

The more one looks, the more problems one finds. What the heck is the "Apache Empire"? And how could such an entity exist when the Apaches lacked a centralized government?

The Aztecs are portrayed as having a huge empire, when books such as Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control , by Ross Hassig (1995, University of Oklahoma Press) explain very clearly why they never had an empire this huge. (hint, logistics is tricky. Logistics without beasts of burden is even trickier.)  And why in the world are the Aztecs and the Olmecs shown as co-existing at the same time?

As for the Iroquois Confederacy, although it is properly named, it stretches too far to the west.

So what the heck is this thing? And why is it dated 2015, another major tip off?

Noting these things, I went to snopes. ( Snopes  ) They uncovered the source. A hobbyist of some kind decided to make an imaginary map of a North America that was never discovered by Europeans and this was the result.  .