Archaeologists have discovered ancient bones which may offer an insight into life during the Aztec era.
Peculiar details found on the 800-year-old bones have led some historians to suggest that they played an unusual role.
According to analysis conducted by the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, the roots of the remains can be traced back to the Late Prehistoric Era in North America, which lasted from 700 to 1500 AD.
Following careful examination, historians suggested that hunter-gatherers who inhabited the region made music by crafting instruments from the human bones.
Biological anthropologist at Augusta University, Dr Matthew Taylor, noted the presence of a musical rasp crafted from the bone of a human upper arm.
The musical rasp made from bone resembled an omichicahuaztli, according to IFLScience, an instrument that was often played by the Aztecs and other pre-Hispanic cultures in Mexico.
Taylor said: "Late Prehistoric South Texas (1300-1528 AD) was characterised by hunter-gatherer habitation.
"Forager peoples lived in the region from Paleoindian times up to and beyond European contact and never adopted agriculture."
The remains can be traced back to the Late Prehistoric Era in North America, which lasted from 700 to 1500 AD
|GARY TODD VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Out of the 29 different objects discovered, 27 were made from either the arms or legs of a human, with the other two being fashioned from rib bones.
The instruments were often produced by using a "groove-and-snap" technique".
This involved sawing around the circumference until reaching the marrow cavity, which then allows the bone to be cleanly snapped in two.
Taylor noted that the technique is "labour intensive and represents hours of work".
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The musical rasp made from bone resembled an omichicahuaztli, an instrument that was often played by the Aztecs
|GETTY
Items made from bone are typically believed to be war trophies or related to ancestor worship, but Taylor highlighted there is little evidence that these practices took place in South Texas.
The musical rasp featured 29 carefully carved notches etched into its surface.
The back of the bone boasted zig-zagging geometric patterns, serving a purely decorative purpose.
It is believed that the instrument would have been played by scraping another piece of bone along the grooves.
According to Taylor, these items are unknown to South Texas, despite being referenced in many accounts from central Mexico's highlands.
Despite the rasp being made from a human humerus bone, the ones commonly found in Mexico are made from thigh bones suggesting that it “may represent an emulation of Mexican religious practices".
In turn, this suggests that there were incidents of technological and cultural exchange by the Aztec empire and the indigenous tribes that inhabited the region.
Taylor concluded: "Although some may wish to equate the presence of these artifacts with the existence of cannibalism, this report does not support or refute that hypothesis."