I was discussing the movie Apocalypto with someone and tried to argue that White Europeans had some evidence of human sacrifice as well (Irish coronation ceremonies) but as I read more about mesoamerican/andean practices I was shocked to see how brutal they were.. roasting victims in a fire while they were alive before taking the hearts, or apparently child sacrifice was very common. Parents would offer their own children, and the more they were tortured and cried the better omen it would be. Often the parents would eat the children afterwards. Some sources say 1/5 mesoamerican children were killed in this way Cruelty towards adults and war captives at least can be comprehended in a cultural context, but slaughtering and cannibalizing your peoples own children seems like such a detrimental thing for any species to do. My question is, what kind of evolutionary selection pressures specific to the region caused the central/south americans to evolve this way? vs north american indians for example