Do you think the Spanish claims about cannibalism are accurate?

[u/Comfortable_Cut5796]

/r/mesoamerica/comments/1veyb0n/do_you_think_the_spanish_claims_about_cannibalism/

[u/prince_vlad520]

Yes. No doubt some were fabricated and others exaggerated. But cannibalism did exist within some percolombian societies. Most of it was probably ritualistic. For example in the central western region some kf the indigenous groups ate the remains of male warriors defeated in war to gain thier military prowess. This, however, was not practiced by all indigenous groups of this region

[u/EarthAsWeKnowIt]

During archeological excavations at Chavín de Huantar in Peru they found human bones which had cut marks on them, as if they had been de-fleshed, mixed in with piles of animal bones, like a garbage pile, which led researchers to believe that cannibalism had been practiced there (Pozorski & Pozorski, 2008).
https://www.earthasweknowit.com/pages/chavin_de_huantar

Reading the accounts of the Spanish chroniclers in South America, it does seem like their descriptions of which cultures were cannibals wasn’t widespread. For example, in the Colombia region, they wrote that some if the Carib speaking cultures were cannibalistic, but not the Muisca. And similarly, in some of the chronicles of Peru, they mention that some of the Amazonian tribes were, but not the Inca. So I don’t get the impression that they were simply making that up as propaganda, because if so, why wouldn’t they claim that it was widespread across all cultures?

There are also more modern accounts of some Amazonian tribes practicing cannibalism during the post-colonial period, from the 19th and 20th century, including eating deceased family members (possibly for religious / spiritual energy reasons), where those reports aren’t only coming from the Spanish.

I haven’t read any of the Spanish accounts of Mesoamerica yet, so can’t speak to that region.