Think As Historian: THINK AS A HISTORIAN: IDENTIfY EvIDENCE

Huitzilopochtli.

Primary sources are those created during the historic period to which they refer. They are the first records of the subject being described and include first-hand or eyewitness reports. Secondary sources, in contrast, are those that analyze primary sources or other secondary sources to draw conclusions on a subject. Historians use both kinds of sources as evidence to support their arguments.

The Codex Magliabecchi from which the above illustration is taken is an ancient manuscript that offers historians a primary source with possible evidence about Aztec society. If you were developing an argument about the Aztec population’s attitude toward human sacrifice, what evidence might you use from this illustration, and what argument might it support?