Table of Contents
Posted by miscellus2, this closing segment sets out Christy Turner’s disputed account of cannibalism at Chaco. After recalling Mesoamerican skull racks as tools of fear, it says a time of upheaval sent people out of the Valley of Mexico just before the Chaco era. Turner’s claim, as narrated here, is that a small cult carried those practices north. Ancestral Pueblo farmers, pictured as peaceful, were to be ruled by intimidation. Eating human flesh was the weapon, because a few deaths and a rumor could control many. The film has Turner cast canyon people as victims, and butchered bodies as a warning, over roughly two and a half centuries. Near 1150, cold, failed crops, scarce game, drought, and disease coincide with Chaco’s end and with fewer such marks on bone. Turner gathered evidence for a career and persuaded some researchers. His link to Mexico remains fiercely argued. The segment is that archaeological argument, not a judgment on a people.
Key points
- The segment presents Turner’s idea that a cult from central Mexico brought violent rites north to Chaco.
- Cannibalism is framed as terror, a way to control many people with relatively few killings.
- Turner is shown suggesting that canyon residents were victims and that butchered bodies sent a warning.
- The narration ties the practice to roughly two and a half centuries of regional control.
- Cold, drought, hunger, and disease around 1150 are set beside the fading of those bone marks and the end of Chaco.
Short quotes
a small cult came north traveling up to chaco canyon
miscellus2, Cannibalism and the Chaco debate
The narration states Turner’s claim that a cult carried the practice to Chaco. Watch at 1:04
the mesoamerican connection has provoked heated debate
miscellus2, Cannibalism and the Chaco debate
The film closes by noting that the Mexican link is still strongly disputed. Watch at 3:44
Video by miscellus2. Watch on YouTube.