Mexicannibals: The ancient tribe who ate each other?

A team at the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History says the bones were found in Durango State, in the northern part of the country, inside a cave hamlet built into a cliff, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

The site -- called Cueva del Maguey -- dates back to around 1425 and was formerly home to the Xiximes tribe. And, the archaeological trove included more than three human dozen bones which showed evidence of having been defleshed, cooked and then ritualistically marked with stone blades.

Rumours of cannibalism among the 5,000-strong Xiximes have long existed due to the historical accounts of Jesuit missionaries, which labelled the tribe "the wildest and most barbarian people of the New World".

The Xiximes apparently believed they could guarantee a good harvest if they consumed the souls of their enemies, ate their bodies and hung their bones from trees as offerings to the spirits.

There had previously been no scientific evidence to back up those early accounts, but the team behind the discovery and subsequent research says the bones, which have laid virtually undisturbed for centuries, offer concrete proof.

"Cannibalism was a crucial aspect of their worldview, their identity. Through their rituals, cannibalism, and bone-hoarding, they marked a clear boundary between an 'us' and 'them'," said José Luis Punzo, an archaeologist with the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History.

The rituals were tied to the agricultural cycle of planting and sowing corn, according to the research reported in the 'National Geographic'.

After each harvest the warriors of the Xiximes were sent to hunt for flesh, preying often on lone men working in isolated conditions in the pine forest region, some 8,530 feet above sea level.

While there were battles with other tribes, and a ready menu of Spanish colonials too, only the bodies the Xiximes people had value for the rituals.

The warriors brought their unwilling victims back to the village where they were ripped limb from limb. The bones were cleaned and the flesh eaten in soup as part of an all-night celebration complete with tribal song and dance.

The bones were then stored in treasure houses until the start of the planting season when they would be hung from trees as an offering to the spirits the tribe believed would bless the crops, say the archaeologists.