Aztec Inventions

The ancient Aztec Empire is one of the more fascinating groups of individuals that we can learn about in history. In existence some 500 years ago, the Empire is completely dissolved as of this time. It consisted of some 20 million individuals spread out over an area of southern Mexico and Central America. Some of the Aztec inventions and ideas that were conceived of centuries ago were far ahead of their time. As a matter of fact, we can read about several Aztec inventions used today, many of which you are probably not aware of.

One of the interesting Aztec inventions that really was not conceived by the Aztecs is that of popcorn. The fact of the matter is, popcorn had been in existence for many, many centuries but the ancient Aztecs introduced this to the rest of the world. So, the next time you buy a bag of popcorn at the movie theater, you can thank the ancient Aztec civilization for this wonderful treat. Just make sure that you don't blame them for the high prices that you will have to pay at the concession stand.

Another one of the ancient Aztec inventions is that of the calendar wheel. Although not necessarily a calendar in and of itself and not limited to a single calendar, it was interesting that they came up with some of the concepts during that time. One of their calendars, which is known as the xiuhpohualli had a time period of 365 days which was split up over several 18 day months with five spare days left at the end of the year. Although this concept had been used in the area for many centuries, the fact that they were able to come up with an accurate number of days for the year still amazes many individuals.

Something that the Aztec nation was well-known for is their human sacrifices. Unfortunately, this is not one of the Aztec inventions that was unique to this area. Human sacrifices had been used for many thousands of years throughout different areas of the Earth but the Aztecs seem to go after this type of sacrifice with a vengeance. To give you an idea of the scope of some of this bloodshed, during the rededication of one of their pyramids, over 80,000 prisoners were massacred in the course of four days. It is thought that at one point, over 250,000 individuals were sacrificed per year. We can be happy that this is not one of the Aztec inventions used today.

One of the Aztec inventions used today is that of the passion flower. It is thought that this was used as a form of medicine in order to prevent such things as muscle spasms. It is also thought that it was used during surgery in order to help the individual that was going under the knife. Although the passion flower is not used during surgery today, it is still considered to be a very beneficial herbal remedy to help with such things as hypertension and insomnia.