Secrets of the Dead

Aztec Massacre

Season 7, Episode 1 of 2

Throughout recent times, historians have believed that when the Spanish Conquistadors arrived in Aztec territory in the 15th century, they were welcomed as returning light-skinned gods by the Aztecs, who put up little resistance to their conquest. But now, a new find outside of Mexico City is turning history on its head. The discovery: more than 400 bodies, many of which show signs of having been mutilated and even eaten. More important, more than 40 of the bodies appear to be European, indicating that the Aztecs not only resisted the invaders, they sacrificed them to their gods, pulling their still-beating hearts from chests and stringing their heads (along with the heads of their horses) on wooden skull racks for public display. Exploring the archeology of the site, the forensics of the bones and beautiful but grotesque codices that document the events, this program paints a new picture of the violent relations between the Aztecs and the Conquistadors and rewrites much of what we thought we knew about the Aztec civilization.

Previously Aired

Day
Time
Channel
10/8/2008
8 p.m.
10/9/2008
1 a.m.
10/12/2008
4 p.m.
9/22/2009
9 p.m.
9/23/2009
2 a.m.
7/27/2010
10 p.m.
9/15/2010
8 p.m.
9/16/2010
1 a.m.
9/21/2010
10 p.m.
9/22/2010
3 a.m.
10/1/2010
7 p.m.
7/20/2011
10 p.m.
7/21/2011
3 a.m.
10/26/2011
10 p.m.
10/27/2011
3 a.m.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona