Earliest Mixtec Cremations Found; Show Elite Ate Dog

Willie Drye
for National Geographic News
April 9, 2008

An ancient burial site in Mexico contains evidence that Mixtec Indians conducted funerary rituals involving cremation as far back as 3,000 years ago.

The find represents the earliest known hints that Mixtecs used this burial practice, which was later reserved for Mixtec kings and Aztec emperors, according to researchers who excavated the site.
Evidence from the site also suggests that a class of elite leaders emerged among the Mixtecs as early as 1100 B.C.

(Related news: “Aztec Pyramid, Elite Graves Unearthed in Mexico City”[January 4, 2008].)

In addition, the burials hold clues that dogs were an important part of the diet of Mixtec elite.

“The Mixtec area is one area where civilization emerged,” said lead study author William Duncan, an anthropologist at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York. “This [burial ceremony] is one part of that emergence.”

Read the entire story here:http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080409-cremations.html

Gary C. Daniels

Gary C. Daniels is an award-winning, Emmy-nominated television, video and multimedia writer and producer. He has a M.A. degree in Communications from Georgia State University in Atlanta, a B.F.A. degree in TV Production from the Savannah College of Art and Design and an A.A. degree in Art from the College of Coastal Georgia. He has appeared on the Travel Channel, Discovery Channel, Science Channel and History Channel. His History Channel appearance became the highest-rated episode in the network's history. He has a passion for Native American history and art. He is the founder and publisher of LostWorlds.org.

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