1. Define the word “Sacrifice”
Warm Up
Define the word “Sacrifice”
Then
Put the following quote from Document 5 into your own words: “This seasoned warrior, whom we change from a human into the god Tezcatlipoca, can have no blemish upon his body, and he is treated like our most royal family member during the long year leading up to his sacrifice.”

2. Clarification of Citations Group Activity

3. Essential Question
I am learning to evaluate historical sources from different points of view.
The purpose of this is to be able to determine how the Aztecs should best be remembered.

4. Task Each group will receive a quote.
Work with your group members to complete the following task on your poster board:
Start off using your quote word for word
Cite where your quote came from
Explain the meaning of your quote in your own words
Explain why this quote supports the main question “How should the Aztecs be remembered”

5. Example
“…human sacrifice shades all assessments of Aztec civilization” (Doc 7). When considering the Aztec civilization, one has to remember that human sacrifice was an important part of their culture. Sacrifice was a key aspect of their religion, which was a major component of their day to day life.

6. Quote 1
“Many of us become attached to this living god, and a terrible sadness comes over some of the women when, at the end of the year, he is taken to Chalco and dismembered in public view” (Doc 5).

7. Quote 2
“Motecuhzoma and Chihuacoatl began to sacrifice them, slicing open their chests and extracting their hearts” (Doc 6).

8. Quote 3
“First, they raised the hearts to the sun, then they threw them into the shrine before the gods” (Doc 6).

9. Quote 4
“Some defenders of Aztec culture have seen it as a limited phenomenon, greatly exaggerated by the Spanish for political purposes” (Doc 7)

10. Quote 5
“Many scholars have seen it as a religious act central to the Aztec’s belief that humans must sacrifice that which was most precious to them-life – to receive the sun, the rain, and other blessings of the gods that made life possible” (Doc 7).

11. Quote 6
“If central Mexico was as densely populated as we believe, then the sacrifices may have been a kind of population control” (Doc 7)

12. Quote 7
“Anthropologist Marvin Harris has suggested that Aztec sacrifice, accompanied by ritual cannibalism, was a response to a lack of protein” (Doc 7).

13. Rotate With your group, read the prior groups original quote.
Read the paragraph they wrote about the quote
Did they met the criteria for the paragraph?
NOW, write your own paragraph incorporating your best ideas as well as the previous groups best ideas making sure to following the paragraph criteria

14. Steps Start off using your quote word for word
Cite where your quote came from
Explain the meaning of your quote in your own words
Explain why this quote supports the main question “How should the Aztecs be remembered”

15. “How should the Aztecs be remembered”
Paper Grades

16. Task/ Homework
If you would like to improve your grade, along with your intro paragraph, you will pick either your paragraph on conquest or agriculture to rewrite. Make sure to include in your paragraph
One quote
Cite where your quote came from
Explain the meaning of your quote in your own words
Explain why this quote supports the main question “How should the Aztecs be remembered”