>IIRC, the book posited that the Aztecs were cannibals because South America had no native animals like cows or sheep that fed predominantly on grass. Thus they

>IIRC, the book posited that the Aztecs were cannibals because South America had no native animals like cows or sheep that fed predominantly on grass. Thus they were chronically short on protein and this helped make them a very war like people. the corn/maize/squash dietary kit was remarkably complete in nutrition (eg, all necessary amino acids/"complete protein"); it's one of the reasons that tenochtitlan was one of the most densely populated places on earth upon arrival of the spanish. this thesis is completely bunk. in fact, cursory googling found this: > In the late 1970s the anthropologist Michael Harner suggested that the Aztecs had resorted to large-scale, organized cannibalism to make up for a supposed protein deficiency in the diet. This idea gained limited support from some scholars, but has been shown to be based on unfounded assumptions about eating habits, agriculture and demographics, making it a highly unlikely scenario.[38] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_cuisine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_cuisine