Good movie. The main protagonist sure was lucky there was a solar eclipse at the right time.
I've read... at the time of all those sacrifices, the victims were cannibalized by the populace, because they were starving. They had cut down trees in the forest and burned them to nitrogenize the soil, then planted corn or maize there. Those crops don't grow well in the same location when replanted repeatedly, so they continued deforestation and planting on a level where the soil couldn't support the crops. Finally, and this happened over a long period of time, there was not much food and the populace ate the sacrifices. This was the rational behind throwing the bodies down the steep pyramid steps, so bones would break up and make it easier to deal with the meat.
Before any of you say this is too gruesome, it's a standard college topic and historically correct, or at least speculated to be what happened during this time period toward the end of the Aztec and Mayan civilizations. It is very interesting.
Les
