ANCIENT Aztecs captured Spanish conquistadors and “fattened them up” before killing and eating them, research shows.

Aztec priests selected human sacrifices from the captured Conquistadors (Image: GETTY)

Dismembered bodies of of men, women and children were devoured by their cannibalistic captors after they were used as human sacrifices. The remains of more than 450 people found at the ancient Zultepec-Tecoaque site in what is now modern day Mexico City have been examined by experts. The victims were held for around six months and were well-fed before being used in sacrificial enactment scenes from Aztec mythology, according to archaeologists.

They were part of an ill-fated Spanish convoy from Cuba who entered Aztec territory in 1520 on a mission to deliver supplies to notorious Conquistador Hernan Cortes.

But the caravan of 15 Spaniards, 45 soldiers from the colonies, 50 women, 10 children and a large number of indigenous allies was captured and over the next six months they met a grisly end.

Archaeologists said traces of construction show the Aztecs had to rebuild the town of Zultepec just to accommodate the prisoners.

The town was eventually renamed from Zultepec to Tecoaque, which in the native Nahuatl language means: “The place where they ate them.”

Archaeologists found the victims had been 'fattened up' before their deaths (Image: GETTY)

The prisoners were detained in doorless cells, where archaeologists found the remains of the victims with signs that they had been sacrificed.

Every few days, Aztec priests chose someone to kill, sometimes in the town square, sometimes in their cell and within earshot of the others.

Toddlers and pregnant female “warriors” were not spared and their severed heads were strung up on skull racks alongside their men.

They were not slaughtered in random acts of bloodlust or revenge but were part of elaborate rituals where the Aztecs re-created mythological scenes.

The remains of more than 450 people found at the ancient Zultepec-Tecoaque site (Image: GETTY)

The National Institute of Anthropology and History archaeologist Enrique Martínez said: “The inhabitants of Zultepec were re-creating creation myths.”

The capture of the convoy was one of the greatest victories for the indigenous population of Mexico during the invasion of the continent but just a year later the Spanish conquered the Aztec empire and toppled its capital city Tenochtitlan.

Aztec culture would eventually be wiped out and the native inhabitants riddled with disease, spelling the end of their society.