Archaeology
Archaeology is the science and humanity that studies historical human cultures through the recovery, documentation, analysis, and interpretation of material culture and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, and landscape. It is the branch of study that enables the transport of a society’s legacy from one era to another. Without this, we are never able to learn from the mistakes past civilizations have made, and therefore cannot improve our own ways as a global population. For example, without the excavation of the ruins of the Native Aztec Indians, there is much that we would have never known.During the sixteenth century, the Mexicas (Aztecs) reached the height of their empire. Extending from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico and from Central Mexico to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, this native people consisted of pioneers in everything from an accurate calendar and concept of zero to delicacies such as popcorn and chewing gum as well as anti-spasmodic medicine. However, they endured a tumultuous and rapid demise, wiping out the entire empire by 1521. The fall of the Aztec empire was caused by multiple reasons, one of which was the extraordinarily great amount of citizens sacrificed as part of the culture’s polytheistic religion. This caused many of the surrounding city-states to resent the Aztecs, which played a major role in another cause of their downfall. In 1519, Hernando Cortes, a Spanish conquistador, arrived in Tenochtitlán, only to prove fatal for the empire. Initially acting benevolent and kind, legend has it that the Aztec people thought him to be a god. However, Cortes eventually turned on them, showing his true motives to conquer the empire. The neighboring lands helped the Spanish in this quest due to their aforementioned differing views on religion and sacrifice. Finally, there was a widespread pandemic of smallpox, a disease that the Aztecs had never been exposed to and therefore did not have any immunity.
Because only a minimal amount of records still exist from their time (the Spanish invaders destroyed most of them), there is not much we would know about this Native American empire without the help of archaeology. We now know that there are certain standards to be upheld by governments and societies in order to run successfully, such as separation of Church and state as well as protecting one’s reputation among foreign lands. If not followed, governments will most certainly fail, similarly to how the Aztecs did.
Because only a minimal amount of records still exist from their time (the Spanish invaders destroyed most of them), there is not much we would know about this Native American empire without the help of archaeology. We now know that there are certain standards to be upheld by governments and societies in order to run successfully, such as separation of Church and state as well as protecting one’s reputation among foreign lands. If not followed, governments will most certainly fail, similarly to how the Aztecs did.
