>Tom,
>
>Sorry to toss this at you but I only have a couple minutes. I'll dig out the reference as soon as I can.
>
>>snip<
>
>>
>>An examination of the Inca Empire is of interest as it was the greatest socialistic system in the Americas and predated Marx and Engels by more than a few years. All was well until a few Europeans came for a visit in 1532 and decided to stay.
>
>>snip<
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>Actually, just recently a discovery was made after a hurricane uncovered a bunch more steps at some Yucatan archeological site. Apparently the new glyphs explained that this one location, subject to the larger power finally rebelled and the Aztecs went into a prolonged state of civil war (essentially). The Aztecs didn't need any help from the Europeans with respect to killing each other and most certainly the Europeans didn't bring the ceremony of cutting one's opponent's heart out and eating it. <g>


I'm pulling some dusty memories out of the bin of history.... According to Dewy Farnsworth, IIRC, one of the reasons why the Inca's were not totally suprised by the appearance of bearded men on horses coming from across the waters was because they had a tradition predicting the *return* of such visitors. The extraction of the heart from sacrifical victims was a distortion of an earlier rite taught by the original visitors who claimed they were going to return in the future. Some believe (but I have not seen any evidence to support this) that the first visitors were early Christians or perhaps even an apostle. ???
JLK