Clay figurines representing Europeans, Africans and other people were uncovered at the historic Indian city in Mexico. Photo by Meliton Tapia / National Institute of Anthropology and History

Excavation at an historic Indian city in Mexico has uncovered significant evidence of conflict during a key period of war and conflict.

According to the National Institute of Anthropology and History, the residents of the Zultepec-Tecoaque site kept more than 500 people captive after a foreign caravan landed in their community in 1520. All of the new arrivals were killed and decapitated or -- in the words of researchers -- "sacrificed."

The caravan included Spanish explorers, African soldiers, mixed-race individuals, indigenous people from other nations and 50 women and 10 children, researchers said. They were separated from the local population for several months while they were slowly killed, according to the institute.

Researchers believe the episode lasted until early 1521. By that time, Hernan Cortes -- who had been a part of the caravan but was not present when it was stopped in Zultepec-Tecoaque -- had already taken over other cities in Mexico as part of his war against the Aztec empire. The residents of the Zultepec-Tecoaque, known as the Acolhua people, were allied with the Aztecs.

“It does add new dimensions to the acts of resistance of the indigenous people," University of Florida archaeologist Susan Gillespie, who was not involved in the research in Mexico, told the Associated Press. "There is the wrong-headed notion that many of them simply capitulated to the more superior European forces. But it is the victors who write the histories of war.”

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Mexican site yields new details of sacrifice of Spaniards (AP 10/9)