Aztec Human Sacrifice

Aztec Sacrifice and the Spanish Conquest
Parallels and Disparities
Oscar Burke

Welcome! My name is Oscar Burke and I created this website during April and May of 2022 as part of a year-long research project on the Aztecs.

My junior year research project was guided by the following question: How did the Aztec and Spanish empires clash specifically regarding the practice of Aztec human sacrifice?

From September to March, I worked on a 36-page literature review of the scholarly writing on the subject, and on May 26 I am set to give a presentation (click here to look at my slides— sorry, it flattened all the animations) where I discuss what I have found during my research.

In addition to the lit review and presentation, I made three posters representing what I felt were key concepts in this field of study, specifically ones that related to the idea of duality and subtle parallels between the Spanish and the Aztecs. Each poster is split in two, representing an aspect of Aztec culture (on the left) and an aspect of Spanish culture (on the right) which mirror one another in unexpected ways. The title of each piece also encourages the viewer to think about one or both of the illustrated concepts in a different light.

Click on the icons at right to view the posters in their enlarged forms.
Click here to read about my aesthetic choices for the website.

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